What exactly is the Quality of Life, you would think three little words would mean very little but when it comes to those pets you let in, those who become a part of your family and everyday it is much more than three little words.
Quality of Life, they still seem like such harsh words. Maybe I can explain the insanity of Friday that I had and hopefully once this entry is complete it will make a little more sense. I awoke, late, to see my 5 year old short hair Calico stalking me like something was wrong. Any pet owner knows that most times an animal will sense something is wrong long before a human would. One of the great reasons why I still think that our “pets” are actually quite smarter than we are, maybe Cleopatra was wiser than us all.
I checked to make sure my youngest was fine and instructed her to stay upstairs until I was able to come get her. Immediately I went to check on the cat, while adopting this cat I swear we went through more red tape than a Nazi during the Third Reich. We adopted her through Pet Smart and for anyone who is not aware of their structure lets just say filing your taxes, alone and complicated is an easier task. She was older, larger than most other cats in the shelter (15+ pounds), flaky and just sitting there alone with a lost look of hope on her face. Let me remind every reader now that she reminded me of a mirror image of my childhood cat that I had for 19 years.
After speed dialing the vet I had an appointment set for 11:30AM to get the cat into a vet visit on the same day, on a Friday with zero notice but within a few minutes of speaking to the woman we decided an ER trip was needed, the kitty’s issues were far too severe. When I found her she was a few steps from where she was when I went to sleep the night before. She had been “normal” the previous night, just a little shy. We have had her since mid April and being shy was nothing new to her. She came into a home that had two cats and a five-year old. I could fully understand after being caged in an adoption setting why she was skittish.
When I went near her it was almost as if she had no idea who I was, but she knew I was there to try to help since she could recognize my voice. We were at the vet’s office within the hour and I swear the drive there was only nine miles but it felt like I was driving forever. I did not even notice the normal asshole drivers on the road and I always notice them.
By the time the vet tech came in to check vitals and them the vet herself, I knew nothing good would come from the day. The “qualify of life” came up many times when we spent half of the day there. I have to say it was very hard to not lose it with a five year old in the room at the same time talking about the different issues that could be causing so much damage to this poor cat so quickly and without any real warning signs. Total onset blindness within a day, severe dehydration, rapid weight loss and no control over her own body, I could not imagine what was going through that cats mind other than total terror.
After a great deal of research it seems there are many neurological disorders that can affect a cat and their behavior. From the information we received when we adopted her to the current vitals of the day, she had lost half of her body weight in a four-month time span. At this point the vet was 100% positive it was an underlying issue that we would have never even knew about. This is when we went through all possible treatment options and the vets own expert advice is that even with 10?s of thousands of dollars of treatment (highly possible) there would be no possible way to know that this cat could make it through the treatments or even have an inkling of a good quality of life at that point.
The hardest choice I have ever made about a family cat, my cat, an adopted old surrendered cat that someone had already rejected. I just sat with her for a while and told her that I know her pain had to end and that I did not want to see her suffer anymore. Randomly howls of pain and being petrified, attempting to hold her own weight with her limbs not doing what her mind was telling them to do and being completely blind. There is no way anyone with a heart could allow an animal, a part of their own family to suffer like this.
One thought was rabies so we did opt after making the decision to have her euthanized to have them check for this. We have other pets to think of along with ourselves. I won’t lie, I never have on this blog and I never will. Friday was a very sad day, it is not the ending of the week I expected. This cat went from normal friendly loving lap kittie that would cuddle with anyone to a blind, confused & unaware cat within 24hrs. Part of me feels like I should have seen a warning sign even though the vet assured me that even her own trained eyes would not have seen this coming from a mile away.
Giving the last word to euthanize was the hardest thing I have done for a pet in my lifetime. I really do not understand this at all. We had saved this sad, old, flaky, overweight loveable cat from having a nightmare of life in a cold cage in a shelter only to have two months to spend with her. To love her and give her the attention she deserved. To make her feel at home. I have tons of images of her; on the dinning room table looking out the window at birds, laying on my lap while we watched a movie on the weekends, sitting on the ottomans with our other cats, playing on the floor with our child.
When I found her she was lethargic, scared and alone. Old older calico who was the same age stalked me in my sleep until I woke and directed me to her. Right now as I type this both that cat and out “jungle kittie” are with me on the couch, neither have left my side in hours. This cat was my childhood reincarnated kittie, she was adopted before us with a guy that kept her for maybe six hours and then ditched her. He said “I want a cat that will sleep on my chest while I sleep and she wont”, when we got her, the first night she slept on my rib cage and would not move. Our other two cats have not really left us alone all weekend, which is actually how long it took me to write this entry.
This was the friendliest cat I have ever met in my life. She would get on her hind legs and jump up like a begging bunny. We found her around Easter, she was an Easter Kitty. She followed us around the day, from when we had school time with the kiddo to late nights when I had to work. She was there with us morning, noon & night. What exactly is the Quality of Life? Maybe its the times we will always remember with those we love, human or pet, the experiences we will always keep dear to us like the memories we will hopefully never lose. Memories are a way of keeping the past alive, we will never lose her fully.
