Friday, January 16, 2009

Goodbye, Monster Cat.


Late last night, 9 started acting strangely -- his back legs became very weak and he was obviously in distress. We rushed him to the animal emergency room, and it turned out to be an issue with his heart. He had an enlarged aorta, and a blood clot broken loose and cut off circulation to the lower half of his body. By the time we got to the vet, his back legs were completely paralyzed.
The vet advised us that treatment would be very painful, would have only a slim chance of working, and would not prevent sudden and serious relapses which in all probability would be fatal. After going over all the particulars, we decided that the kindest thing to do would be to let Nine go, and minimize the amount of pain he had to go through. It was a hard decision, but the vet agreed that, if it were his cat, he would do the same.
The good news is that it happened very fast, and that Nine didn't seem to have been in pain until the very end. He spent a good portion of the day on my lap, and the rest out in the yard lying in the sun and being mean to the other pets. He was happy, he seemed perfectly healthy. I don't think I could have planned a better day for the guy.

5 comments:

Tricia said...

oh I am so sorry, Nora! That is honestly VERY similar to how it happened with Iggy only with him he had a collapsed lung (out of nowhere). So sorry. But it does sound like the perfect day!

Tricia said...

Of course I mean the earlier part of the day. Sorry if that came out wrong.

seester said...

Oh, so sorry, Nora. It seems like you handled it beautifully. I know you loved and appreciated that crazy cat more than some might have thought possible (what with his penchant for sneak-attacks). He was lucky to have you guys. I'm glad you got to spend such a good last day together.

Anonymous said...

Oh Darling
I am so sad to read this. Honestly, you did the right thing. I have heard of this before, it even happened to one of Dr. Brenda's cats and she did just as you did. That cat so lucked out when you two came into his life and he really loved you.

momeester

dadmoo said...

I'm glad that you, Monster Cat, and Brian had so many good years together.