Graci was a blessing to our family. On June 24th 2002 I went to the Humane Society to return a cat named Boots, that I adopted a month prior and she was ill. I spent near a thousand dollars trying to cure her, but in the end found that her disease was incurable and I couldn’t watch dear Boots suffer so I returned her to the Humane Society with tears in my eyes and all the vet’s paperwork and explained that she was ill and that she had a raw bladder that was incurable. The women that I returned Boots to immediately grabbed this dear lil kitten out of a prospective adopters hands and handed her to me, she said that she wanted me to have her because she had raised her and bottle fed her cause she was abandoned. I instantly fell in love with this fluffy lil grey Lion maned kitten, she was adorable and so, so, so sweet!
This kitten was named Graci, Gray for the fact that she was grey and the ci for C as in cat. This cat grew to be the sweetest cat on the planet, she had so much love for me, she sat on my shoulder as a parrot would and enjoyed being cradled as a baby. Graci seemed to be the perfect family pet that showed so much affection for our family and especially me. She slept in my bed nightly, she became my companion and friend. Then in 2005 symptoms that at first I thought were poison being indigested from a soot like substance that entered our home through windows on a windy day. We live near a sod farm so I thought it was dirt and chemicals that were causing her to sound as if she were trying to produce a hairball. this black covered counters walls, and floors. I brought Graci to vet and they seemed to think that it was feline asthma cause she responded well to Albuterol.
We were prescribed 2 types of medications for this episode and others if they were going to follow. Indeed there were more to follow , but very far apart…… On Thanksgiving of 2005 I found Graci near death gasping on my floor with her tongue out I immediately grabbed my son’s Asthma inhalers and began spaying albuterol into her mouth, I rushed her to urgent care where she was kept in an oxygen tank and given shots of steroids to stop this swelling of her lungs or tubes which ever it may have been. This bill was huge in the thousands. I was told now that yes Graci did in fact have feline asthma and was prescribed yet another med.
This was such a rare case cause she would go months and months symptom free and then she would start coughing out of no where.I would start her meds orally and administer albuterol a few times a day when this would occur. I started her on a strict diet in order to have her loose the few extra pounds she packed on after being fixed; she did loose alot of weight. I thought this would help since the vet said it would.
The week of April 16th 2007 Graci was showing signs that her asthma was once again flared up. I started with Nebulizers, Albuterol, and her oral meds. She didn’t seem to be any worse than her one or two episodessince the Thanksgiving vet stay, so I wasn’t too alarmed. I just kept treating her. On April 15th my daughter Emily Nebulized her right before bed for me because I had a horrible sinus type infection myself. On April 16th I awoke and seen my Baby lying on my kitchen floor still warm, but indeed lifeless. The lord had taken her to his palace.
I miss her daily and life without her in it isn’t as dear, she was such a great cat I loved her as I do my children. I have faith in the man upstairs and know that where she is now she doesn’t suffer trying to breath. I am regretful that she isn’t in my life daily, but thankful that I was chosen to be touched by her amazing love for the time that she was!
Baby I love you, your beauty is etched in my heart and your love will be with me until I join you in the skies above! I now know that her worst trigger was outside fires and that the soot like substance was indeed ashes from a neighbor’s firepit!
They say you are in heaven,
| Graci June |
| Amy Klein & family |