One Down, Eight to Go

Today Fradie Cat used up one of his nine lives. He was diagnozed with lymphoma and hadn't eaten in two or three days. I tearfully accepted that this was the end of the line and drove him to the vet this morning to be "put down". He had an ugly growth on the right side of this face and I'm nor sure that he could have eaten even if he'd have wanted to. For the last couple of weeks he was getting IV fluids under the skin and I promised him yesterday that it was the last time I would poke the little guy. After a sad arrival at the vet we prepared to have him put to sleep and the young vet came in. She took one look an said-- you know this looks like an abscess! Would it be ok to try to clean this out and put him on antibiotics? And so Fradie missed the bullet. We're holding good thoughts for him and we'll know if he'll make it in a couple of days. Good luck Fradie!

Compassionate Caregivers

Poor Julio has died. We noticed he was having a lot of trouble walking --- so off to the vet he went. Initally they decided that as an (ahem) older cat he was prone to constipation so gave the poor guy a series of enemas and some nasty gooey stuff to ram down his throat. Well, that didn't work and the nasty stuff had him not eating at all. Back to the vet he went. This time his not eating was causing his liver to malfunction so he needed a feeding tube (I am now having doubts about the outcome of this) and we were assured that cats tolerate these tubes well. Bear in mind that the cat can barely walk. I called Monday to check how the little guy was doing and was informed that he had passed away over the weekend. Sometimes I wonder about vets. Was this all about their bottom line or was this about providing care for my cat? I say this because when I was last there some lady was complaining about the $100 plus per month for pills for her pet. The vet overheard this and said that if money was a problem (don't you just love that attitude) the same medication in the non-chewable variety was available for $20-- since she had to put the chewable pills in food as well she thought she'd just save the $80! So here we are-- Julio is dead; we are hundreds of dollars poorer; and we put our dying cat through hell-- not a good feeling!



Enough of my rant- I am hopeful that Spring is just around the corner! Some of the snow has melted, the sun has been sighted, and Costco has roses!

Cast of Characters- Even More Cats

Goldie



Sylvester








Rupert

Cast of Characters- More Cats

Sparky







Camilla







Mama Cat

Cast of Characters-Cats

Clio









Julio








Fraidie Cat





Caesar




Fuzzie






Indie

Hair and There

It's just amazing to me that these cats have any hair on them. If you could see what I vacuum off the floor and pillows you would be certain these guys would be bald! Looks like they're not too concerned about the cold outside!


In this case FAT and happy apply! (Sorry Ceasar)


Ahem! Weight Watchers for Cats should be just around the corner!




Winter has definately arrived!