The whole **lisacurl **family kitty world turned upside down last night. I’m grieved to say that we had to make the sudden decision to euthanize our first and best cat ever, Mr. Charles T. Cat, last night. Despite some chronic megacolon problems (common with tailless Manx) and being about ten years old, he was very healthy and very active. He was fine and well Thursday morning. I knew something was wrong yesterday evening when he didn’t come running out with the other cats when I started rattling cans of food. We found him lying by the patio door, in a patch of sun, his lower body paralyzed.
Rushed him to the vet, got a dim prognosis, rushed him to LSU Vet School Small Animal Clinic, had the dim prognosis confirmed. They told us he’d be in a lot of pain if we chose to pursue treatment that had very little chance of working, and even if it did, he could have another incident any time. We made the decision to let him go with dignity. My husband and I held and petted him as he went to sleep for the last time.
Apparently, heart disease can be symptomless in kitties until a major event like this. (He threw a clot that traveled down to his lower body.) We take comfort that Charles T. Cat was active and spry until this happened, and that we acted quickly so that he suffered as little as possible. Would that we all have such.
We are very shocked and saddened, but we are coping. Hug your spouses, babies, kitties, doggies… and tell them tales of the kitty who sat on chairs like a person, for he is somewhere where the People Food falls from the sky and no one is fussing at him for eating it.
Ohh Mr. Charles, I scritch thee gently behind the ears. Dear Stubbie, another Manx who had a difficult body, bounds out in his awkward fashion to show you where the Tender Vittles are kept.
I lost one of my kitties at ten years of age due to an aortic thromboembolism. It’s tough because often there are no warning signs but I think euthanasia is the most humane thing for them. From the patients I’ve seen over the years the ones that people try to treat do not do well, they often throw more clots after the initial one because the heart problem that causes it is still there and the ultimate result tends to be the same.
I will be thinking of Charles today. I’m glad y’all are coping well. To be healthy up to the last day, and to go quickly and surrounded by those he loved, is something I could wish for all cats.
Farewell Charles. I also like the sitting posture, it’s priceless.
As I do, I’ve saved both of those pictures into my screensaver file. He’s there with several other Dopers former pets, so every once in a while know that when his picture crosses my screen for a few seconds that someone else will be thinking of him.
I’m going to give my kids some extra skritching today.
That was exactly the diagnosis. Thanks for the further confirmation that we did the right thing.
And thanks everyone for the well wishes. Last night was difficult, today is a little easier. The Mr. is keeping busy with a lot of physical house stuff. He cleaned out all the kitty litterboxes and changed the litter last night, and today he’s been in the yard. He started hacking down some weeds and then ended up taking down a small trash tree we’ve been meaning to take down for a year or more. Me? I cut my own hair for the first time in my life. I went from shoulder-length to chin-length in about fifteen minutes.
One of my cats got out the other day and I thought I’d lost him as he’d always been an indoor cat. Got him back, thank heavens, but I was in a lot of anxiety.
Losing pets is never easy. I’m so sorry for your loss, I’ll give all three of my cats, especially the returned one, extra hugs. And I hope Baby and The Road Warrior meet him Charles at the bridge, to show him around.
Poor kitty.
