My Dearest Ashley, or, as we loved to call you, “Tah Tah” I clearly remember the day we took you and your twin sister Allie out from the hole in our basement wall where you mother had abandoned you.You both were so tiny and weak,but with lots of care from Grandma you began to grow properly.
After weeks of love and attention, Daddy and I decided that we wanted to bring you both into our home to love for a long, long time.
When you turned 8 weeks old, we took you both to the Vet. for vaccinations and that is when our dreams were turned around. The Vet told us that you and Allie were positive for Leukemia and that We had three options:1}to send you to a place where they care for Felv Positive cats,2}put you to sleep,or 3} let you live as long as possible.
There was no choice in our eyes …every animal deserves the chance to live no matter how unfortunate that they were born sickly. From that day on we loved and cared for you like we did with all of our cats.
Tah Tah, between the both of you, you actually were the luckiest,you had one year one month and five days to share with us, while your sweet sister only managed 8 short months.
You seemed fine until this past weekend, when I realized you weren’t as active as usual and seemed to have trouble when it came to using the litter box. After noticing this I figured that maybe you where a little constipated and that eventually you’d be back to normal but then I noticed that your hind legs seemed to be weak,so I called the Vet and took you out for a check up.
The vet wasn’t sure what was going on but once she started to examine you she said that you were severely constipated and that your bladder was huge. She did an x-ray but it showed nothing in the form of a mass that could be affecting your hind legs but that wasn’t to say there wasn’t something with the spinal nerve. While we were waiting for the results of the urinalysis, you started to leak urine all over the table and obviously you had no control over it because it just kept coming out.
The vet said She would like to keep you for a few hours to empty out your bladder and relieve the constipation, and that we could pick you up in the afternoon. At one o’clock we received a call from the vet and She said that they had no luck relieving the constipation and that now you were becoming very sensitive to any contact.We were told we could bring you home but would have to be very careful as to how we touched you and that you would have to brought back to the office the next morning to have your bladder manually emptied again.
The prognosis was very, very bleak and that I needed to make a decision as to what I wanted to be done.
Oh my Dear Tah Tah,I have had to make the same horrible decision twice in 6 months and now have to make it again. What was I to do … selfishly bring you home for one last night together, knowing that come morning I’d have to load you up and make the final trip or spare you another hour of suffering and say Good-Bye today.I love you far too much to be selfish and so Grandma called the Vet and said that Daddy and I were on our way to say our Good-Byes.
When they brought into the room for us to see I couldn’t believe how quickly you went downhill since the morning. I reached to gently stroke your head and I could hear you growl so very softly.It was then that I knew I had made the right decision. I asked you to promise me one thing before you left on your Journey and that was to let me know when you arrived at The Bridge and Tah Tah I was so happy that you let me know not long after passing because the entire day had been dark and cloudy and just as we turned onto the road where we live the sun burst through the clouds and revealed a beautiful blue sky. My darling you will forever be in our hearts and know that you always were and always will be loved.
Your Loving Family
| Ashley |
| 10, June 2009 |
| Wendy & Butch Scism |