My Cats
Jul 26, 2006 Life
I don’t write a lot of personal information on my blog. I’m not sure why. However, today I feel the need. About 2 1/2 weeks ago (Monday, July 10), I noticed that my cat Penelope looked really sick. Meet Penelope:
Ross and I immediately made an appointment with the vet. The vet agreed. She had a fever and looked dehydrated. The vet ran blood work and took an x-ray. Diagnosis? Inconclusive. Her blood work was normal. The x-ray was clean. Penelope did have a heart murmur. Before he did the blood work and stuff, he thought the heart murmur was the result of the fever. Afterwards, he decided that she my have a congenital heart condition. I should mention that Penelope isn’t quite two.
We took her home and treated her antibiotics. Over the week she started to look better. She played with our other cat, Cedric, and interacted with us.
On Sunday, July 17, I woke up around 8 am to see her having a seizure. I freaked out. The seizure would start then stop. When it didn’t stop, I called the vet. He promptly returned my call. I explained her condition. He told me even though it looked really bad, she would be ok in our home until Monday. Since he had just seen her, I trusted him.
The seizures lasted 1 1/2 hours. This was a horrible moment in my life. When they stopped, I decided to take a shower. I was kind of messy from holding her. I put her on the bathroom floor. She stayed right there. After my shower, I decided to research cat seizures on the Internet. Penelope was right by my side in the living room.
During this time, I realized that something was wrong. She didn’t move. Then I realized that she couldn’t move the left side of her body. Some how Penelope had a stroke! I was devastated. Ross and I spent our Sunday nursing Penelope. During the day we realized that she was fighting to live. Yet her little heart wasn’t strong enough to keep on going. Late Sunday evening, Penelope passed away. On Monday, we took Penelope’s body to the vet for proper disposal and to talk to the vet. Given her heart condition, there was nothing he could have done for her.
Penelope’s death upset me more than I could ever realize. I’m grateful for the time I spent with her on Sunday. While caring for her, I showed Penelope that I cared for her and I felt stronger as a human. My love for life increased while realizing that life is precious.
Ross and I spent the better half of Monday crying. By the end of the day, we decided we needed another cat. On Saturday, we adopted a kitten from the humane society. Meet Calypso:
She is an adorable, playful kitten. We needed her. She helps us feel happy. Even Cedric is happier. Instead of whining and sulking, he is playing with Calypso. I’m so thankful for the new little life.
