Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA
Member Since 2009
Good, fun news first! Today is Beau's 2 year OTJ anniversary! And I didn't even test him today in honor of it. Last test was 86 or something. I go by how he acts and he isn't drinking water, so I am not worrying. :mrgreen:
I know I have been AWOL for quite a while. I have been busy with my freelance business, had relatives in town and had a crisis with my oldest cat, Charlotte, who died on the 10th. I just have been concentrating on whatever was urgent at the moment and in my free time I have been knitting complicated lace stuff so it takes all my attention. I just had no energy to read and post. I hope you will forgive me. And hopefully I can post now and then.
Charlotte was just over 18-1/2 years old, so she had a long and happy life. She was buddies with Beau and sometimes Jeddie and the other cats, but she was pretty independent of all of us. She had been in a slow wind-down for about 8 months and that seemed to pick up the pace over the summer. On Labor Day weekend, late Saturday afternoon (of course, since the vet would be closed for two days) I noticed she had labored breathing. I took her in on Tuesday and a chest xray showed a mass or fluid in her chest. Her lungs were clear though. We tried steroids and I gave sub-Q fluids because she was dehydrated. In the days that followed, she stayed in my front hall area, ate less and less, still drank water, but I had to hold the dish for her... until Thursday when she stopped taking anything in the late afternoon. I could still give her drops of water from a syringe. I was with her when she died at 2:45 am Friday. I had been planning on being at the vet when they opened the next morning to have her PTS. I am grateful that she died at home and in relative comfort, although the last few hours were probably not that great for her. She hated going to the vet and I always hate that as a last experience so I am glad she was spared that.
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Here are some photos of her. She was a beauty. As a kitten, April 19, 1993:
In 2008:
Last May - still looking good on May 25th:
and in a kitty mass with Beau and Jeddie - she's on the left, Beau is in the back and all that orange and white is Jeddie-bins:
Everyone is reshuffling and figuring out things without her. She was the alpha cat, so there is a bit of a hole there. Beau if getting on my lap more, something he never did at home before (he gets on my lap all the time when we go on vacation in MI). And so it goes.
Jeddie had a run of great numbers in the middle of all that, but seems to have slipped back into the 200s. He is also having very soft stools the past couple of days. I am keeping an eye on him. Not sure what the deal is there. No food changes, but I have been giving them raw chicken as treats for 3 days. It is fresh chicken I bought 3 days ago and I baked the rest of it and have been eating it ok. I hope there isn't something else going on with him.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll try and browse through posts and see how folks are doing.
I know I have been AWOL for quite a while. I have been busy with my freelance business, had relatives in town and had a crisis with my oldest cat, Charlotte, who died on the 10th. I just have been concentrating on whatever was urgent at the moment and in my free time I have been knitting complicated lace stuff so it takes all my attention. I just had no energy to read and post. I hope you will forgive me. And hopefully I can post now and then.
Charlotte was just over 18-1/2 years old, so she had a long and happy life. She was buddies with Beau and sometimes Jeddie and the other cats, but she was pretty independent of all of us. She had been in a slow wind-down for about 8 months and that seemed to pick up the pace over the summer. On Labor Day weekend, late Saturday afternoon (of course, since the vet would be closed for two days) I noticed she had labored breathing. I took her in on Tuesday and a chest xray showed a mass or fluid in her chest. Her lungs were clear though. We tried steroids and I gave sub-Q fluids because she was dehydrated. In the days that followed, she stayed in my front hall area, ate less and less, still drank water, but I had to hold the dish for her... until Thursday when she stopped taking anything in the late afternoon. I could still give her drops of water from a syringe. I was with her when she died at 2:45 am Friday. I had been planning on being at the vet when they opened the next morning to have her PTS. I am grateful that she died at home and in relative comfort, although the last few hours were probably not that great for her. She hated going to the vet and I always hate that as a last experience so I am glad she was spared that.
rb_icon
Here are some photos of her. She was a beauty. As a kitten, April 19, 1993:
In 2008:
Last May - still looking good on May 25th:
and in a kitty mass with Beau and Jeddie - she's on the left, Beau is in the back and all that orange and white is Jeddie-bins:
Everyone is reshuffling and figuring out things without her. She was the alpha cat, so there is a bit of a hole there. Beau if getting on my lap more, something he never did at home before (he gets on my lap all the time when we go on vacation in MI). And so it goes.
Jeddie had a run of great numbers in the middle of all that, but seems to have slipped back into the 200s. He is also having very soft stools the past couple of days. I am keeping an eye on him. Not sure what the deal is there. No food changes, but I have been giving them raw chicken as treats for 3 days. It is fresh chicken I bought 3 days ago and I baked the rest of it and have been eating it ok. I hope there isn't something else going on with him.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll try and browse through posts and see how folks are doing.
