Snugglepuss
Well-Known Member
Well geeky friends I am one happy geek :green:
Whilst this might have been better posted in my journal - I thought that the moral of this story is very pertinent at the moment :green:
Some of you know that I have a very old scraggy cat called Bo. I adopted him and his sister (Lucy who has since died) about 2 years ago. They came to me aged 14 with 4 teeth between them and plenty of ailments!
However, I still loved them - in fact, the fact that they were old and scraggy made me love them even more :hug:
When Lucy died I was heartbroken but we still had Bo cat who is a real cat with attitude :lol: and he got even soppier once he got to be top cat :lol:
Anyhoo, recently, his health has deteriorated and over the past few weeks we came to terms that it would be kinder to have him put to sleep :cry: I can tell you I cried and cried - my eyes were all crusty and sore and I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach! So Monday at half past 5 we saw the vet and she asked "what can we do?" our reply was "Bo is really poorly and old so we think the kindest thing to do is put him to sleep!"
The vet said "what about if I do some tests and then you can make an informed decision?" so we did - still fearing the worst possible outcome!
Tuesday morning came and we had a phone call - "Bo has a thyroid problem, fluid in his lungs, high liver enzymes, high white blood count (obviously some infection somewhere) problems with his kidneys and he needs to be in an oxygen tent" we thought she was going to recommend the sleepy drug treatment BUT nope she said "we would like to give him some thyroid and antibiotics, put him on a drip and keep him in the oxygen tent is that ok with you?" Of course the answer was "yes if he is going to have some quality of life" :green: The started the treatment straight away and we have had an update 3 times a day from the vets :green:
Tonight they have rung up and he is tons better :green: and he obviously won their hearts over - they love him to pieces :hug: Her last words tonight were "he is a miracle we didn't hold any hope out for him on Monday but he proved us all wrong"
So why the long story?
Well on Monday I had resigned myself to having him put to sleep BUT within 15 minutes an alternative was offered. I wasn't sure whether it was the right thing to do especially as we are going on holiday tomorrow!
We gave him a chance and he survived - he fought a huge pussycat battle to stay with the people he loves!
He proved that just because something negative and bad is going on, that it doesn't mean that we have to give up on things - he didn't!
It proved that what you love and believe in, is worth fighting for!
But most of all the thing which has touched me the most is, is that the vets despite their thoughts, tried to save him and not only did they do that, but as he will not be off the drip and the oxygen until next week, they have said that he can stay there for the whole of our holiday :green: what better place could he be in?? They could have said "we will arrange for him to be transferred to the cattery" but nope - they held a partners meeting and voted that even though it is "not the norm" he could stay :green:
Geeky friends from such a negative and uncertain place for me to be in, and then to have opened doors I would have never thought of, has really enlightened me and hopefully you can see that despite some terrible things may happen, they happen for a reason and even though they may be difficult to go through at the time - there will be a positive outcome :green:
Whilst this might have been better posted in my journal - I thought that the moral of this story is very pertinent at the moment :green:
Some of you know that I have a very old scraggy cat called Bo. I adopted him and his sister (Lucy who has since died) about 2 years ago. They came to me aged 14 with 4 teeth between them and plenty of ailments!
However, I still loved them - in fact, the fact that they were old and scraggy made me love them even more :hug:
When Lucy died I was heartbroken but we still had Bo cat who is a real cat with attitude :lol: and he got even soppier once he got to be top cat :lol:
Anyhoo, recently, his health has deteriorated and over the past few weeks we came to terms that it would be kinder to have him put to sleep :cry: I can tell you I cried and cried - my eyes were all crusty and sore and I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach! So Monday at half past 5 we saw the vet and she asked "what can we do?" our reply was "Bo is really poorly and old so we think the kindest thing to do is put him to sleep!"
The vet said "what about if I do some tests and then you can make an informed decision?" so we did - still fearing the worst possible outcome!
Tuesday morning came and we had a phone call - "Bo has a thyroid problem, fluid in his lungs, high liver enzymes, high white blood count (obviously some infection somewhere) problems with his kidneys and he needs to be in an oxygen tent" we thought she was going to recommend the sleepy drug treatment BUT nope she said "we would like to give him some thyroid and antibiotics, put him on a drip and keep him in the oxygen tent is that ok with you?" Of course the answer was "yes if he is going to have some quality of life" :green: The started the treatment straight away and we have had an update 3 times a day from the vets :green:
Tonight they have rung up and he is tons better :green: and he obviously won their hearts over - they love him to pieces :hug: Her last words tonight were "he is a miracle we didn't hold any hope out for him on Monday but he proved us all wrong"
So why the long story?
Well on Monday I had resigned myself to having him put to sleep BUT within 15 minutes an alternative was offered. I wasn't sure whether it was the right thing to do especially as we are going on holiday tomorrow!
We gave him a chance and he survived - he fought a huge pussycat battle to stay with the people he loves!
He proved that just because something negative and bad is going on, that it doesn't mean that we have to give up on things - he didn't!
It proved that what you love and believe in, is worth fighting for!
But most of all the thing which has touched me the most is, is that the vets despite their thoughts, tried to save him and not only did they do that, but as he will not be off the drip and the oxygen until next week, they have said that he can stay there for the whole of our holiday :green: what better place could he be in?? They could have said "we will arrange for him to be transferred to the cattery" but nope - they held a partners meeting and voted that even though it is "not the norm" he could stay :green:
Geeky friends from such a negative and uncertain place for me to be in, and then to have opened doors I would have never thought of, has really enlightened me and hopefully you can see that despite some terrible things may happen, they happen for a reason and even though they may be difficult to go through at the time - there will be a positive outcome :green: