I am in the process of typing it up BUT it is taking me forever. . . Aside from the usual distractions we have a bit of a potential tragedy brewing. Kitty boy Thor appears to be finishing up his ninth life and is not doing well. He is usually a 16-18+ lb cat. Today at the vet he weighed 8 lbs. They think something is wrong with his liver. Thor is my cat from college but has been living with Lala and Pop for the last 14 years of his almost 18 year life. To say the least, Lala is not handling this well.
I am also struggling with my asthma brought on by my grass allergy. (Apologies to Steph for cutting short our bike ride today.) It is making me very tired, little lighted headed, short of breath etc. Being at the vet with Lala today did nothing to help since I also have a pretty bad cat allergy. Ugh.
So while I take my sweet time typing and getting my pictures up from my weekend please check out Charlie's, Fishstick's and Chris's blogs for some of the details of my very fabulous time in Nashvegas.
Hey Ms Natalie,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about Thor and your allergies. Our cat...Rover...yes Rover the cat, not dog...lived to the ripe age of 19 and also was a very large and dwindled down to almost nothing. It was hard for us as I'm sure it is for you and your Mom.
The pictures from CMM are up http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=31330&BIB=1215 and I do seem to have some ears growing out of my head. :)
Wish you all well,
Charlie
Sorry to hear about your kitty cat and your allergies! I also struggle with allergies this time of year and know how frustrating it can be. Hang in there, springs almost over...(just nod and smile)
ReplyDeleteLook forward to reading the race report!
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ReplyDeletea. I have just recently developed adult-onset allergies, and they suck.
ReplyDeleteb. Every friend i have from high school-ish time had/has a pet that lived some crazy long amount of time. I think I remember Thor... Always tough, I feel for you.
c. I am sooooo waiting on the edge of my seat for your recap. Yes, you should feel the pressure... I have VERY high expectations. And, I think your camera has got to have some FANTASTICALLY RIDICULOUS pictures!!!
Oh no, not Thor! I'm sorry to hear about that little devil of a cat. The passing of Thor will truly be the end of an era. So sorry, Nat! Can't wait to hear the race report!
ReplyDeleteAt this time Thor is still with us. I am thinking of getting a second opinion re his "condition". The Cat Clinic Dr. wants to do tons of tests to determine "exactly" what the problem is so we may make a more informed decision about euthanasia. What would you blog people do? (he's 18, still eating, still walking (sort of) still meowing, chased a lizard yesterday. PLEASE VOTE: 1. lethal injection now. 2. feed him and pet him and let nature do what it will. (some concern about pain here) 3. get all the tests (pricey and probably won't change the condition) to know what exactly is wrong. Then do lethal injection. 4. consult Dr. Rand if I can find him (he knows the misadventures of kitty Thor very well and saved his life more than once.) please help me decide, Lala
ReplyDeletepleeze pray for me
ReplyDeleteWhile I was in the Navy and out at sea for months on end, Vic wanted a sea buddy. So we got Kili from the Honolulu pound. She was 4 month old Terrier/Sheppard mix and quickly became part of the family. Actually, our first child.
ReplyDeleteWe moved with her from Hawaii, to Georgia, to San Diego, to San Jose and finally here to Atlanta. In 2003 at the age of 13 she was very ill. Moody, unhappy, incontinent and just plane sick. At that time we had newborn and a 2 1/2 yr old and were having real problems with the messes Kili was leaving around the house and with her new, more agressive tendencies toward our 2 1/2 yr old.
The Vet told us her liver, at a minimum, was failing and gave her only 6 months to live. She also said her symptoms and condition would only get worse and worse. So we opted to put her down.
In hindsight this was one of the worst decisions we ever made. We felt like we'd murdered her. To this day, we can't talk about her and it happened over 5 years ago. Just too much guilt.
Logically it was the right thing to do I suppose, but I wouldn't do it again unless there were severe, extenuating circumstances.
Just thought I'd share our experience. I'm sorry you're having to make the same choices we did.
I'd hold Thor and pet him and love him until he doesn't feel good anymore. If he stops acting like himself, then maybe it is time to let him go.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't realize our cat was ill until he had congestive heart failure. "Hon, Oscar is breathing funny. We'd better call the vet." Sure, he'd been losing weight and his poop looked funny, . . . but in hindsight we could have saved him some discomfort.
It's a hard decision especially when a pet has been a valued family member for so long. We want them to be health, happy and have a good quality of life. But when they get old, their quality of life suffers and so do our pets. We could not bear to have one of our pets, whose health was failing, to be put down. So we loved her and took care of her but it was hard to see her suffer...she never whimpered but you could see it in her eyes. By the time she died, she couldn't do anything for herself and I'm sure she suffered. In hindsight we wished we had put her down so she hadn't suffered. We did put down our cat Rover when she could not do anything for herself and we didn't want her to suffer. It was a very sad day for all the family members to say good bye but it was best for her. I won't vote what you should do, that is up to you and your family. But whatever you do decide, I'm sure it will be in the best interest of Thor.
ReplyDeleteCharlie
None of us can really help with this decision. You have known the cat for 18 years. You will know when the cat is not himself, when he is not happy, not comfortable.
ReplyDeleteOur family cat died naturally from kidney failure. Killer (the cat) was clearly not happy and our decision was purely selfish.
I am beginning to think Jay and I are about to have to deal with Murphy, the scotty. It sucks, but I wouldn't want that life for myself either...
Just don't feel guilty about whatever you decide.