My husband and I decided to get a third cat in May 2007. We already had two male tiger cats (Ralph was 6 years old and Tommy, or Thomas Tee as we called him, was 5 1/2 years old). We saw this 10 week old tiger striped female and just had to have her. We went back the next day and got “Reba” and thought our two male cats would love having someone to play with. Well, we figured Thomas Tee would warm right up to her and it may take Ralph awhile longer.
However, we were surprised it was just the opposite. Ralph started warming up to her in a week or so but Thomas Tee didn’t want anything to do with her. After another week or so went by, I told my husband that I thought there was something else wrong with Thomas Tee (other than the new addition to the family) because he had a different type of cry, he was hiding in weird places, he started throwing up, not really eating a lot, moving slower,and drinking a lot of water.
My husband took Thomas Tee to the vet on June 12, 2007 and had to leave him there to have some blood work done, so he asked me to pick him up when I got off work. I figured he was a little bit under the weather, however, I was definitely not prepared for what I was about to find out when I picked Thomas Tee at the vet.
I got to the vet and was asked to go into the back room because the Dr. wanted to talk to me about Thomas Tee. That is when the Dr. told me he didn’t have any good news for me at all, and that Thomas Tee was severely dehydrated and according to his blood work, had kidney (renal) failure and had lost more than 1/3 of his body weight, too. I will never forget that day for the rest of my life…I just broke down in tears right there in the vets office. The vet told me they could give him Sub-Q fluids for the dehydration and Electrolytes to stabilize him, but overall Thomas Tee’s health was very poor and the outlook was really not good.
I left the vets office, that day, crying with Thomas Tee in my arms. I told my husband and his reaction was just the same as mine – disbelief. We both agreed to do anything and everything to keep him with us as long as we could. So, we took Thomas Tee to the vet every other day for his fluid treatments and bought him Hill’s kidney food, too.
All of this seemed to be working for the first few weeks, but eventually things became worse and worse and Thomas Tee quit eating entirely so he continued to lose more weight. He was basically starving himself to death and he started hiding in the back of the closet in the spare bedroom. I knew he was no longer happy and I couldn’t bare to see him that way. The vet also recommended we, as his care givers, let him go in peace because he was no longer happy and apparently in a lot of pain.
On August 13th, 2007 just one month away from his 6th birthday, Thomas Tee was finally freed from all his pain and suffering and put to sleep. It was the hardest day of my life and not a single day goes by that I don’t think about him. I miss him so much and
I will never ever forget him!!!
WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH LITTLE MAN!!!
Always in our hearts,
| Missy & Jim |