Louise: 2012 - 2013
Louise
2012 - 2013
Louise came into our life about the same time Lucy left. Louise was one of two gray kittens the vet had left over from a litter. Her sister, which I called Thelma was a gray and white striped kitten with a pointed head and an aggressively playful style. Louise had a rounded head and a more fluffy patchwork gray and white "cammo" color, and was fairly shy. She was obviously the runt of the litter. When Lucy passed away, we decided we would adopt both Thelma and Louise, but found that someone had already adopted Thelma, but poor Louise was left behind all alone. We took her home on July 3rd, 2012.
When Louise came home, she immediately wanted to explore her surroundings. She first went under Brenda's desk, about the same time Spot came in to investigate.
Can you say 'Love at first sight"? Spot did. He went up to tiny little Louise, picked her up by the scruff of the neck, and carted her around like a 2-year-old with his favorite toy, Louise complaining the entire time. Despite the complaints, they became fast friends.
What Louise loved most though, was nursing on Brenda. Everyday, usually twice a day, she would climb up on Brenda and start loudly sucking and kneading on her neck, up to an hour or so. We even took a video of her. (See links)
http://jaderb.org/images/Louise/Louise_nursing_on_Brenda.mov
http://jaderb.org/images/Louise/Louise_loves_to_nurse.mov.
In fact, Brenda became an accessory.
http://jaderb.org/images/Louise/Louise_making_herself_comfortable.mov
http://jaderb.org/images/Louise/Louise_cleaning_herself.mov.
Louise had a rough beginning. For the first couple of months she had trouble with her bowels, and we were giving her probiotics to help her out. It seemed as if her digestive system wasn't fully developed. But time, patience, and love yielded positive results and it seemed that other than an occasional eye cold, she appeared healthy.She certainly got along with all the others. She was always a tiny kitty, and never got to be very big.
Unfortunately, a little over a month ago, things changed. Louise suddenly stopped nursing on Brenda, and her diarrhea returned. We took her into the vet to have her checked, and the initial results showed only a slight hemoglobin count. But a few days later, her abdomen started swelling, and a second test confirmed the worst. Wet FIP. We started a steroid treatment, which helped for little awhile, then tried an interferon treatment that didn't yield much of a result. Even when giving Louise her medicine, she would make a cute "yuck" face.
Last night, she pretty much quit trying to eat or drink anything. We couldn't get hold of the vet today, I made up a little box, lined it with a nice towel, and we gave her some painkillers and little droppers of water until she passed at about 8:30 this evening. Coco and Spot were both checking up on her, and gave their respects when she passed. We gave her a toy mouse, a little catnip, and some pictures, then closed up the box. We'll bring it to the vet in the morning, since there's no place to do a proper burial around here. We only had Louise around for a few days over a year, and while we understand she had health issues, it's very hard to let someone with so much love go in such a short amount of time. I hope her spirit moves quickly onto her reward.
Louise, we'll miss you.
