My Kitter

2000-2015

It's been a journey. Kit came to live with us on October 10, 2000. He was a stray, but well mannered. We don't know exactly what his life was like for those first four or five months, but the last fifteen years have been awesome.

On August 10, I took him to the vet to have a small bump on his chest looked at. Our wonderful vet was concerned, so she did a needle aspiration and came back to tell me the cells looked suspicious and she was sending them to the lab for analysis. Kit and I went home to wait out the weekend. On Monday, she called to tell me the lump was a cancer tumor. On Tuesday we were back at the vet for a chest x-ray and blood work. If the cancer was localized to the tumor, we could do surgery and remove it. Luck was not our ally that day.

Kit's lungs should have been a solid, black mass on the radiograph. Instead, they appeared grey and fluffy. Kit was terminal, so we came home to enjoy the end of our last summer together. Prednesone was prescribed to aid with lung function and we went on with our lives.

I was determined to make the best of the time we had. Days were spent indulging him in his favorite foods until he was no longer interested in eating. Daily walks in the yard as I watered the garden, until it was too tiring to walk down the stairs. One last camping trip over Labor Day weekend. Lots of lounging in the sun on the deck.

This went on for almost three months. On Wednesday I came home from work. He had nibbled at his breakfast, but hadn't moved from the spot I left him in that morning. I took care of some chores and he dragged himself into the kitchen before easing down onto the floor, exhausted and breathing heavily. The look he gave me said simply, "It's time". So I bundled him into his crate, made a couple calls and made one last trip to the vet.

Saying goodbye isn't easy. Our vet office is staffed with wonderful people. We were escorted to the "grief room". I don't know what else to call it, but we were given privacy and time to reminisce and love on my most amazing cat. Time to rub his ears and listen to him purr. Kit's actual passing was very quick once the drugs were administered. He was gone just before 7 pm.
And I cried buckets.

Sick Kitter

I came home from Spring Break to find Kit very lethargic and definitely not acting like himself. My aunt said he hadn't eaten the day before I got home. When he refused food that night I knew we had a problem. He didn't even protest when I put him in his crate and off to the vet we went.

One exam later and we knew he was dehydrated and running a high temperature. A few hours later the diagnosis was a kidney infection. He was discharged late the next evening with three medications and a new diet. Since the meds had to be given three times a day, he spent about a week with Mom and Dad.

Happily, he is back to his normal, chatty, demanding self.

Missing Kitter

I miss my cat. After Memorial Weekend I let him go home with my parents. He's having the time of his life at Mom and Dad's, (they let him outside where he can roll in the dirt, eat grass, and climb trees) but I miss having him talk to me when I come home at the end of the day. Plus he's a great alarm clock. I so overslept this morning. Only a few more days and I'll see him, and I'll get more than a earful about abandoning him. Kit's a typical cat: mercurial.

Cat with an Attitude

Kit & I have to go home tomorrow. He knows, and he's making a nuisance of himself. Right now, I have to push his tail out of the way to type. He's spent most of the day knocking things off tables, counters, the piano. He has so many bad habits. It's not like I'm in any hurry to get back, but I have to work next week. And I'm not leaving him hear for my parents to spoil more than they already have!