Goodbye Once Again
He was the most beautiful kitty- a classic black and white tuxedo cat with green eyes and a little white hourglass on his nose. He was feisty and scaredy and had the 'I didn't see it! I didn't do it!' attitude of a a middle school delinquent. He liked to be petted very gently, and didn't like any kind of people food but saw all forms of houseplant or floral arrangement as an all-you-can-eat salad bar. He was an avid mouser; but never ate the whole mouse, preferring to leave the tails and hearts. He was very, very soft.
He left us today, suddenly and unexpectedly. He was fine Sunday morning and afternoon; and then within the space of minutes his back legs gave out and he was laying gasping for breath on the floor. We got him to the emergency vet's as quickly as possible, but she told us no ammount of haste would have made any real difference. What he had was saddle thrombus; a kind of aortic embolism caused when a blood clot breaks free from the heart and lodges at the place where the aorta splits into each leg. The result is excruciating pain and paralysis as the hindquarters lose all blood supply; the cause is most often an undiagnosed genetic heart condition. Even if emergency surgery to remove the clot is successful, in 90% of all cases it reccures within six months, and the vet herself had never once seen a cat survive it. In light of his extreme pain, the decision was made to allow him to be put down, and within the space of less than an hour since it happened, he was gone. He was all of about five years old.
I've put up some pictures here. I'm still in shock that this happened, and happened so quickly. He was young. He was healthy. He was the *only* one of our animals who was young and healthy. This was a fluke; an act of complete genetic randomness. Without our knowledge that his family may have carried this, there was no reason to sceen for it and take any preventative measures, not that they would have done much besides hold it off a little longer.
Those of you who knew him, save a memory of our beautiful, purring Badboy- maybe we'll meet again someday...
(You know what? I'm sick of this kind of thing. Just really *fucking* sick of it.)
He left us today, suddenly and unexpectedly. He was fine Sunday morning and afternoon; and then within the space of minutes his back legs gave out and he was laying gasping for breath on the floor. We got him to the emergency vet's as quickly as possible, but she told us no ammount of haste would have made any real difference. What he had was saddle thrombus; a kind of aortic embolism caused when a blood clot breaks free from the heart and lodges at the place where the aorta splits into each leg. The result is excruciating pain and paralysis as the hindquarters lose all blood supply; the cause is most often an undiagnosed genetic heart condition. Even if emergency surgery to remove the clot is successful, in 90% of all cases it reccures within six months, and the vet herself had never once seen a cat survive it. In light of his extreme pain, the decision was made to allow him to be put down, and within the space of less than an hour since it happened, he was gone. He was all of about five years old.
I've put up some pictures here. I'm still in shock that this happened, and happened so quickly. He was young. He was healthy. He was the *only* one of our animals who was young and healthy. This was a fluke; an act of complete genetic randomness. Without our knowledge that his family may have carried this, there was no reason to sceen for it and take any preventative measures, not that they would have done much besides hold it off a little longer.
Those of you who knew him, save a memory of our beautiful, purring Badboy- maybe we'll meet again someday...
(You know what? I'm sick of this kind of thing. Just really *fucking* sick of it.)