Alas, poor little Annie.
My amazingly sweet, formerly homicidal cat Annie ran out of time today. She'd been sick for a while. About a month ago I found out she had cancer, with multiple solid tumors in her lung, abdomen and under her skin. We've had a pretty good month, but she started to decline this past weekend and had a really bad night last night. Earlier in the week I'd made an appointment for her out at AVets in Monroeville. We went out to the appointment, and it was decided that she was out of time.
Obviously I knew this was coming. It was really good to have that last month with her, though. I'd originally taken her out to AVets on my usual vet's advice when the usual why-is-my-cat-losing-weight things didn't solve her problems. They have a very nice animal internist out there. A lot of pretty sophisticated care was applied, and we figured out how bad the situation was. We never did figure out exactly what *kind* of cancer we were dealing with, but it wouldn't have made much difference.
The big thing they did was to give Annie a percutaneous endo-gastric feeding tube. I fretted over this decision for a while, but I have to say, it worked out really well. Annie was just totally oblivious to the tube. I hadn't expected that, but apparently it's the same way with humans who have PEG tubes. The tubes are not uncomfortable, and they just totally solve any feeding problem. The tube also saved us both from my having to shove meds down her throat several times a day. That alone was worth it. The fact that I got an extra month of her sleeping on my chest was fantastic.
Annie was my sister's cat, and I'm sure I'm mentally conflating Annie's illness with my sister's. But what the heck. I got to care for Annie, and I feel satisfied that I did everything right; the cat at least got really good care. When I first got her she was very aggressive. She drove both my other cats out of the second floor and claimed it for her own, and wounded me pretty solidly on several occasions. Typical calico behavior, I guess. The past year or two, though, she was amazingly affectionate and friendly. She and I got along really well, and I shall miss her. Farewell and safe journeys, Annie.
Obviously I knew this was coming. It was really good to have that last month with her, though. I'd originally taken her out to AVets on my usual vet's advice when the usual why-is-my-cat-losing-weight things didn't solve her problems. They have a very nice animal internist out there. A lot of pretty sophisticated care was applied, and we figured out how bad the situation was. We never did figure out exactly what *kind* of cancer we were dealing with, but it wouldn't have made much difference.
The big thing they did was to give Annie a percutaneous endo-gastric feeding tube. I fretted over this decision for a while, but I have to say, it worked out really well. Annie was just totally oblivious to the tube. I hadn't expected that, but apparently it's the same way with humans who have PEG tubes. The tubes are not uncomfortable, and they just totally solve any feeding problem. The tube also saved us both from my having to shove meds down her throat several times a day. That alone was worth it. The fact that I got an extra month of her sleeping on my chest was fantastic.
Annie was my sister's cat, and I'm sure I'm mentally conflating Annie's illness with my sister's. But what the heck. I got to care for Annie, and I feel satisfied that I did everything right; the cat at least got really good care. When I first got her she was very aggressive. She drove both my other cats out of the second floor and claimed it for her own, and wounded me pretty solidly on several occasions. Typical calico behavior, I guess. The past year or two, though, she was amazingly affectionate and friendly. She and I got along really well, and I shall miss her. Farewell and safe journeys, Annie.