tiffmaxee
Member Since 2013
Hi Friends,
I never was able to compose myself enough to do a tribute to my gentle giant Max, so I'm going to try now with tears rolling down my cheeks. . I can't believe it's been a year since I set him free. I brought him home with his stepsister, Tiffany, a tortie, about 20 years ago. He was a 2 1/2 pound ball of fluff and one of the most handsome cats I've ever seen. The next night we were at the ER with what turned out to be a vaccine reaction. A few weeks later I noticed fur missing from his nose which turned out to be ringworm. I had to put ointment on his nose and keep him away from my face but he didn't mind a bit. Never a hiss or a complaint. He grew to be a beautiful well tempered cat and all was fine until he had a urinary blockage when he was about 4 1/2 years old. That was the first time I almost lost him. After a touch and go night at the ER and a week recovering from surgery due to a vet piercing his bladder, I was told he was out of the woods and I brought him home. My vet commented about how good he was. Maybe being in the cage so long was why when he was diagnosed with diabetes another vet at the practice labeled him aggressive. He had cage fever my vet said. I changed his food and all was good until they were almost 10 and Tiffany was diagnosed with early CKD and then lymphoma. The only times I ever heard him growl or hiss was when I would bring her back from the hospital when she had to stay overnight.
When she left us way too early (two years later) Max seemed depressed. There was nobody to chase or play with while I was at work. He stopped playing with his favorite toys, plastic straws and glitter balls. He was such a sensitive boy. After a few months he stopped eating and was diagnose with chronic pancreatitis. He started sleeping at the foot of my bed but not before he would lay on my chest with his face on mine purring loudly for about 10 minutes. Tiffany was a tortie with a huge personality and we both missed her terribly. I thought about getting him a companion but Max seemed to enjoy being my one and only and I feared it would make the chronic pancreatitis worse since it seemed to be stress related.
I was so upset when the years of chronic pancreatitis made him diabetic but he was such a good boy we got into the routine easily. He loved his freeze dried chicken and turkey treats. When I had to add fluids when he developed CKD he adapted to that as well. He was such a good boy with all the test and meds. If it bothered him he never let on. I had to juggle being with my mom who was in out of the hospital with heart disease and urinary infections.. It was hard but I would do anything to do it all over again. When Max was diagnosed with heart disease I remember telling a friend that I wondered why I had to learn about every cat illness that exists. Sadly I didn't need to learn about heart disease after all. How ironic that he passed from the same disease as my mom who left exactly a month later. I promised Max I would never let him suffer and I kept my word. A kind vet had told me that Tiffany would need me to know when it was her time as she was so connected to me. It turned out to be the same for my beloved Mr. Unpredictable. How lucky I've been to have two heart kitties. Max taught me so much and I try to pass it on in tribute to my beautiful wonderful boy. I miss him so much.
On a lighter note, I think Max and Tiffany sent me Chai and Mocha. Chai is a pistol, even more than Tiffany and Mocha is sweet and easy going like Max. I probably should have changed their names to Sugar and Spice. Thanks for sharing some of my memories.
One person shouldn't have to experience that much pain in such a short time. 
