My baby
For the last month or so Rocco hasn't been quite himself. He's been sleeping more and going outside less. I thought he had a bad case of hairballs because he's been randomly coughing. Then over the weekend I noticed he wasn't eating much and wasn't going bathroom as much. Monday night I went to go to bed and found him heavily panting. I got him to the vet the next morning and there's nothing we can do. We're going to lose our baby. Apparently at some point this summer he sniffed another cat's feces who had Feline Corona Virus. Most cats are exposed to this and it means nothing. However in some it mutates into Feline Infectious Peritonitis and it's terminal. His lungs are filling up with a yellowish fluid that is high in protein, making it harder and harder for him to breath. The vet tapped his lungs to relieve some of the pressure to give us some time, but the fluid will come back. She pulled about almost a water bottle of fluid out and the x-ray showed only one-third of his lungs weren't filled with fluid. My baby is slowly drowning and suffocating. There's nothing we can do but give him a couple of days. He's been getting chicken, steak, ham and canned catfood for dinner just to try and get some strength in him. I've been staying home with him for all but a half day of work. I'm going crazy worrying if he's in pain, if his breathing is worse, etc. I just really don't want to be in charge and have to make the decision on when it's time to put him down. I thought it was horrible when Jack just disappeared, but having to decide when to kill your pet is worse. Is today going to be the last day I hold him? Is today the last day I can pet his soft fur and make him happy? Has his breathing changed in the past hour? Can he get comfortable? Has he ate one-third of his food or half? Watching him slowly suffocate is absolutely horrible. And he's only seven... way too soon for a cat to go. I don't want to get in trouble at work but I don't want him to be in pain for eight hours before I get home to realize it's time.... It's going to be way worse when he actually is gone. The crazy cat lady won't have any cats. And getting another is out of the question. I just can't go through the heartache again. In 2006 Katie was hit be a car. In 2007 Jackie disappeared. Now Rocco and Bailey already has health problems. To top it off, Katie died in October, Jack went missing late September, and my brother left us October 5th. This is the worst worst worst time of year. And now my baby.....