DVCcurious
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
I just got back from the vet a half hour ago and I want to just let some feelings out.
I had to put my cat Snickers to sleep today. She was a pretty calico and looked like a snickers candy bar, hence the name (link to picture below). She was 14 years old. The weekend of 8/31-9/1 we noticed she was getting bony and not really eating or acting normally. She also spent most of the following week hiding in the basement, including behind the washer/dryer which she never does. I thought she may have just had a cold or something but by Friday I took her to the vet. She weighed 5.3 pounds. She is a small cat and normally weighs 8.5 but I knew that 5.3 meant we were at the end. On Friday I set her up in our bedroom with a litter box and her cat carrier that she had been hiding in (even though normally she is afraid of it because it means a trip to the vet). The vet had done some blood work on her and they called me Saturday morning. The vet said it was the worst possible news. She had acute renal failure. Basically her kidneys failed and weren't functioning. The vet told me she had weeks to live. She asked me to bring Snickers in immediately to give her on an iv so she could get some fluids in her body. The vet then made a Monday appointment for me to follow up on the success of the IV. Saturday night I noticed Snickers smelled really bad. Like really bad breath. I figured this was from her kidney disease.
Last night I couldn't sleep. I got up and grabbed Snickers out of the closet where she spent all her time hiding since Friday. We went out to the chair and she sat next to me on the chair arm and I pet her and looked at pictures of her on the computer. She jumped up on the counter and went to her food so I ran over and gave her a fresh bowl with fresh dry cat food and I put some canned tuna fish on top. She bent down and sniffed it. Then she sat up, looked like she was thinking, then jumped off the counter and went back in the closet. About 10 minutes later she came out of the bedroom and drank some water from the dog's bowl. I thought that was the best sign I could have that at least she was drinking so I went to bed at 1:00. At 5:00 this morning she jumped up on the bed and laid right along my arm (I sleep with my right arm sticking out perpendicular). She stayed for 15 minutes and I pet her before she went back into the closet. I took her in this morning and the vet could smell her. So she looked in Snickers' mouth. She had an abcessed tooth (like a decayed tooth with an infected root) on one side and the other side of her mouth had unknown ulcers or lesions. That's why she hasn't been eating because it was too painful. So it made the tough decision easier and I choose to put her down. I held her and petted her when they did it. I cried like a little girl even though I'm a 45 year old man.
Snickers is the only animal that was ever ONLY mine. She wasn't really a family pet (like our dog) she was my pet. I picked her out at Petco out of the dozens of cats there. There was an abusive animal breeder in PA and the cats were rescued, nursed back to health, and then adopted through Petco in western PA. I took one look at her and knew she was the cat for me. She never liked being held (because she was wild for 2 years before we adopted her) or sit on my lap. But she would sit on the chair arm of my lazy boy and I could pet her for hours sometimes. She didn't really like my wife or the kids too much. She didn't dislike them but she never sought anyone out to get pet except me. She used to sleep above my wife's head (between the pillow and the head board) after she figured out that sleeping by our feet meant she got kicked. In 2018 we got a puppy and Snickers realized the puppy would keep harassing her unless Snickers stood up for herself. So she scratched this Labrador puppy across the nose and the dog has been afraid of her ever since! Even now when the dog is 100 pounds he is afraid of little 8 pound Snickers.
This is me and Snickers Saturday night.
This is the picture of Snickers on the Internet from when she was waiting to be adopted at the Tiger Ranch Rescue company:
https://e87a2185-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites...Va7kBcNPdeLbN_gTPgG1crdRLUV-Y=&attredirects=1
I had to put my cat Snickers to sleep today. She was a pretty calico and looked like a snickers candy bar, hence the name (link to picture below). She was 14 years old. The weekend of 8/31-9/1 we noticed she was getting bony and not really eating or acting normally. She also spent most of the following week hiding in the basement, including behind the washer/dryer which she never does. I thought she may have just had a cold or something but by Friday I took her to the vet. She weighed 5.3 pounds. She is a small cat and normally weighs 8.5 but I knew that 5.3 meant we were at the end. On Friday I set her up in our bedroom with a litter box and her cat carrier that she had been hiding in (even though normally she is afraid of it because it means a trip to the vet). The vet had done some blood work on her and they called me Saturday morning. The vet said it was the worst possible news. She had acute renal failure. Basically her kidneys failed and weren't functioning. The vet told me she had weeks to live. She asked me to bring Snickers in immediately to give her on an iv so she could get some fluids in her body. The vet then made a Monday appointment for me to follow up on the success of the IV. Saturday night I noticed Snickers smelled really bad. Like really bad breath. I figured this was from her kidney disease.
Last night I couldn't sleep. I got up and grabbed Snickers out of the closet where she spent all her time hiding since Friday. We went out to the chair and she sat next to me on the chair arm and I pet her and looked at pictures of her on the computer. She jumped up on the counter and went to her food so I ran over and gave her a fresh bowl with fresh dry cat food and I put some canned tuna fish on top. She bent down and sniffed it. Then she sat up, looked like she was thinking, then jumped off the counter and went back in the closet. About 10 minutes later she came out of the bedroom and drank some water from the dog's bowl. I thought that was the best sign I could have that at least she was drinking so I went to bed at 1:00. At 5:00 this morning she jumped up on the bed and laid right along my arm (I sleep with my right arm sticking out perpendicular). She stayed for 15 minutes and I pet her before she went back into the closet. I took her in this morning and the vet could smell her. So she looked in Snickers' mouth. She had an abcessed tooth (like a decayed tooth with an infected root) on one side and the other side of her mouth had unknown ulcers or lesions. That's why she hasn't been eating because it was too painful. So it made the tough decision easier and I choose to put her down. I held her and petted her when they did it. I cried like a little girl even though I'm a 45 year old man.
Snickers is the only animal that was ever ONLY mine. She wasn't really a family pet (like our dog) she was my pet. I picked her out at Petco out of the dozens of cats there. There was an abusive animal breeder in PA and the cats were rescued, nursed back to health, and then adopted through Petco in western PA. I took one look at her and knew she was the cat for me. She never liked being held (because she was wild for 2 years before we adopted her) or sit on my lap. But she would sit on the chair arm of my lazy boy and I could pet her for hours sometimes. She didn't really like my wife or the kids too much. She didn't dislike them but she never sought anyone out to get pet except me. She used to sleep above my wife's head (between the pillow and the head board) after she figured out that sleeping by our feet meant she got kicked. In 2018 we got a puppy and Snickers realized the puppy would keep harassing her unless Snickers stood up for herself. So she scratched this Labrador puppy across the nose and the dog has been afraid of her ever since! Even now when the dog is 100 pounds he is afraid of little 8 pound Snickers.
This is me and Snickers Saturday night.
This is the picture of Snickers on the Internet from when she was waiting to be adopted at the Tiger Ranch Rescue company:
https://e87a2185-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites...Va7kBcNPdeLbN_gTPgG1crdRLUV-Y=&attredirects=1
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What a beautiful girl, and so well loved. I know it’s not easy. Dan posted such a beautiful poem, and it’s so true. Giant hugs to you. 
.
