Tiny Tim - Gone Too Soon

At around 1:30 today, our vet came to the house and released our beautiful Tim from his suffering. Tomorrow is my birthday.

Update on Tim

Tim came back from the vet with an appetite on Tuesday evening and we were all optimistic until the night came and he developed very laboured breathing. This continued into the next morning – at one point so bad his mouth was slightly open and his tongue was hanging out a bit. Back to the vet, since I googled these symptoms and it looked a lot like cardiomyopathy, which has no cure, and death can come within hours/days. At the vet, it was discovered he had a fever which is not consistent with CM – and an x-ray showed a blurred heart which in turn indicted Pyothorax – a relatively rare thing which is basically an internal abscess in the thoracic cavity– the blurred heart indicating presence of fluid.. Researching on the internet, I have seen this needs aggressive treatment – draining at the hospital 5-10 days – cost can go up to 2-3,000$. Not that money is an issue (not that I have that kind of $ anyway) – mostly, it is quality of life, and Tim being a very nervous hyper type cat = visits to the vet affect him terribly. He slept on the bed all night, breathing still laboured – still not eating, nor drinking. We are trying to induce appetite with a special paste. He is also on antibiotics and fever reducing medication. All these measures we have tried in past years with other “patients” for different conditions, and the story always ends the same. We’ve gone through this so often – the feeling is familiar – that heavy feeling – of the inevitable.

Oh, and the vet checked out little out little "TimBit" Chelsea (fellow Canadians will get that) - to discover once again, as we did with Chaiyka - she is a he, so I have suggested Chesney - sounds close.

And last but not least, thanks to all who are sending healing thoughts to us, especially Merrylou, JC and Knatolee...

Worried

We are very worried about our Tim, who went to the vet this afternoon. He was fine Sunday night, went out early Monday morning with the rest of the gang, he came in, but didn't eat breakfast as usual (his routine is to yowlfor food!), but instead went straight to bed and hasn't eaten at all, or moved much since then. he hasn't had any water either, and resists any attempts to force some in. I hate to be an alarmist (I am good at that), but I have read some scary things can be associated with sudden loss of appetite. I was thinking well maybe it's a reaction to little Chelsea (i.e. a new animal in the house)- but why now after 3 weeks? Maybe he ate something rancid outside? Maybe he fought with someone? I recall my poor PeeBee once had a brief but intense "encounter" with a local thug-cat. It affected him so badly, that over the next 2 weeks his fur came out by the handful, so much so, that his back was almost bare after a while. And then there was Mitzi, who once stopped eating the same way, but it turned out her teeth were bad - a good cleaning fixed that. Another time, she languished again - was sequestered alone in room for a few days with her own food, water and litter. Afterward, she came out totally fine, as if to say, "thanks, I needed some 'alone time' - I'm quite ok now". That was very peculiar.

Nothing to do now but wait, and worry...

Chelsea

Labour Day evening - out on the porch - hear plaintive meowing under the porch - out with flashlight - little gray kitten - covered with oily substance - bathe - cuddle - Chelsea. Can anyone say "oh-oh"?!

As always, there's more to see at The Friday Ark and then Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.

Frankie and the Dahlias

Hmm - so here is Frankie in the solarium - the tiny little Siamese that has had us all wondering, is he homeless??? He seems to be spending more and more time around the house, and today, we actually forgot he was inside, and I found him all cozy on my armchair in the living room! Such a cutie, but the other residents aren't too sure...but I suspect, before too long, I'll find most of the supposed "enemies" bum-to-bum" on the bed...it's been known to happen. The old stare, hiss, growl, and spook routine sometimes seems to be staged for the benefit of us humans: the audience.

Check out other forms of entertainment over atThe Friday Ark and then Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.

New Banner - Daylilies

This new banner has turned out very nice if I may say so myself! This photo is special to me, because it was taken a few years ago in my office: on the way to work sometime in mid-late summer, I found a stalk of daylilies that perhaps a careless child had broken off then just casually threw it away onto the sidewalk. There were many unopened buds on this stalk and 2 flowers had just opened for the day. What a waste, I thought. So I picked it up, brought it to work, and figured that at least I would have those 2 blooms to enjoy for one day. The next day, of course I found 2 shrivelled flowers, but much to my surprise, 2 or 3 new blooms. And so it continued for a week or so - even the smallest buds, which I was sure would not open, finally did.