Ozzy Pawzbourne
Member Since 2016
We made the very difficult decision to put Ozzy down last night. He was very very sick with a very poor prognosis according to the vet and an almost $10,000 vet bill estimate. Vet said he could relapse after coming home and require another hospital admission. Ozzy had long term diabetes. He lived with this condition for 7 years. He also survived repeated cases of painful pancreatitis and an awful surgical removal of a likely cancerous tumor. He was a tough kitty. He was a loved kitty. He was the absolute sweetest kitty in the world with the pillowy softest fur and the loudest little engine purr of any kitty I’ve ever met. He was a big boy with a big heart. He lived 16 spoooiled years and we are missing on him terribly right now.
I will admit that we made some mistakes by stopping the constant monitoring of him. Would we have caught this? Maybe? We were on vacation and he was at home with my mom who stayed here to care for him. He gets horrible separation anxiety and hides the entire time we are gone every time we leave. He experiences extreme stress when we leave. He may have had some underlying thing going on that might not have escalated to this level had we not taken a vacation and he had not experienced such stress. I don’t know. We struggled to ever go on vacation for 6 years because of his needs and finally got my mom to come take care of him. We just don’t really know what triggered the DKA. The vet said it’s likely he has other issues going on including some involvement with his kidneys. He was an old boy and would continue to have more inevitable medical problems as he aged.
This was a hard decision to put him down but one that my husband and I talked about many times as Ozzy has gone through his various medical issues. I’m so sad that we had to do it. My heart is broken. But I do know that he lived a long and wonderful life and was so loved and well cared for.
I want to thank the wonderful moderators and people on this site for all you have done for us. From the minute Ozzy was diagnosed with DM, I found you. You all taught me how to treat my cat, the correct insulin to use, how to administer it, how to test with a home monitor, how to run BG curves, how to treat low sugars. We had many pajama parties over the years. And lots of laughs. You all taught me proper feline nutrition and through this knowledge I learned my cat had severe poultry allergies and we were able to almost completely cure his long term vomiting by removing his allergens from his diet. Something all his vets missed. I trusted the advice here many times more than what my own vet told me. You all helped me interpret labs and helped me understand what to do when Ozzy had pancreatic flares. You were there for me around the clock 24/7 when I needed emergent advice. After a few years of learning the DM ropes, I fell off the scene. We had and were equipped with all the knowledge to keep going with Ozzy and he was flourishing. For years, even as a geriatric cat w DM, he had perfect labs except for DM. He was thriving. So THANK YOU kitty committee!! Thank you for all you have done for us and for me personally. You kept my head on straight and in many times calmed me in a panic. You helped me be the best kitty mommy to my sweet Ozzy. Because of the people on this board, my cat lived a long life and for 7 years with diabetes. So thank you.
Fly free sweet Ozzy. You were so loved.
I will admit that we made some mistakes by stopping the constant monitoring of him. Would we have caught this? Maybe? We were on vacation and he was at home with my mom who stayed here to care for him. He gets horrible separation anxiety and hides the entire time we are gone every time we leave. He experiences extreme stress when we leave. He may have had some underlying thing going on that might not have escalated to this level had we not taken a vacation and he had not experienced such stress. I don’t know. We struggled to ever go on vacation for 6 years because of his needs and finally got my mom to come take care of him. We just don’t really know what triggered the DKA. The vet said it’s likely he has other issues going on including some involvement with his kidneys. He was an old boy and would continue to have more inevitable medical problems as he aged.
This was a hard decision to put him down but one that my husband and I talked about many times as Ozzy has gone through his various medical issues. I’m so sad that we had to do it. My heart is broken. But I do know that he lived a long and wonderful life and was so loved and well cared for.
I want to thank the wonderful moderators and people on this site for all you have done for us. From the minute Ozzy was diagnosed with DM, I found you. You all taught me how to treat my cat, the correct insulin to use, how to administer it, how to test with a home monitor, how to run BG curves, how to treat low sugars. We had many pajama parties over the years. And lots of laughs. You all taught me proper feline nutrition and through this knowledge I learned my cat had severe poultry allergies and we were able to almost completely cure his long term vomiting by removing his allergens from his diet. Something all his vets missed. I trusted the advice here many times more than what my own vet told me. You all helped me interpret labs and helped me understand what to do when Ozzy had pancreatic flares. You were there for me around the clock 24/7 when I needed emergent advice. After a few years of learning the DM ropes, I fell off the scene. We had and were equipped with all the knowledge to keep going with Ozzy and he was flourishing. For years, even as a geriatric cat w DM, he had perfect labs except for DM. He was thriving. So THANK YOU kitty committee!! Thank you for all you have done for us and for me personally. You kept my head on straight and in many times calmed me in a panic. You helped me be the best kitty mommy to my sweet Ozzy. Because of the people on this board, my cat lived a long life and for 7 years with diabetes. So thank you.
Fly free sweet Ozzy. You were so loved.
