Friday 27 October 2006

A not so happy resolution

Unfortunately we've lost the battle to save our cat, Bob. We always knew there was a risk he would deteriorate again when he came off the dialysis but he made such a good recovery after the last lot of treatment we had high hopes he would pull through. But he wasn't looking so good last weekend so we took him in for another blood test on Tuesday which confirmed that the treatment wasn't working. So it was just a case of deciding when to let him go.

Ian had a long chat with the vet on the phone yesterday about how and when to make these decisions (though we have plenty of experience already ... this is our fourth cat bereavement in three years). The vet is in the same situation himself: his own dog is seriously ill but so far he and his wife (who is also a vet) haven't been able to bring themselves to put him down. There's no fixed right or wrong answer but we wanted to keep Bob going for as long as he was happy. By this morning he had deteriorated to the point where we felt that line had been crossed.

We'd only had him for two years, having adopted him as a 10-year-old (though I have my suspicions he may have been older than that) because we're softies when it comes to the old and shabby cats that nobody else wants. Bob had been in the shelter for over two months and looked a bit of a mess, very overweight with a bald patch down his front where he'd had surgery. But he had such a lovely personality (and loud purr) we wanted to give him a chance, and he turned out to be a real delight to us. So at least he was spoiled rotten for the last two years of his life.

5 comments:

Laurene said...

Here, across the Atlantic, I share your loss, knowing how much I love my cats & how we're all headed in that direction anyway.

In solidarity then, take heart. His suffering is over. Feel better soon.

Artemesia

Sissy said...

God Bless you for adopting. I hope you consider doing that again.
I adopted a 10 year old yorkie-I don't ever want her to have another bad day.
She's had more than her share...
Sissy

Silvia Hoefnagels . Salix Tree said...

Aww.. so sorry to hear this. Must have been a very hard decision to make.
I have a very old cat too, she's gone completely deaf and blind now, and moves very slowly around the house... but she's happy still, I'm sure.

Anonymous said...

A sad loss I'm sure but choose to look back on the good times and and know that you did right by the dear thing.

Anonymous said...

I have been blog hopping and just found your blog! My thoughts go out to you, we have just gone through a very similar situation and had to have Chimarni put to sleep on November 13th. They have a way of getting under your skin don't they. So thinking of you.