Pretty Kitty
was 12 years old and ill with Feline Infectious
Peritonitis – Dry when I adopted her from a local shelter.
She was removed from a loving home by the local board of health
because of an argument between her owners and their neighbors.
They owned 6 house cats and their small NJ town had an ordnance
only allowing 4 pets.
Her neighbors turned her in. She gave up 2 cats – Kitty being one of them.
Kitty spent 7 months in that shelter. I adopted her and took her
home to give her a comfortable place to live out her remaining days
and then to have comfort and love around her when she
passed on to heaven. That was three years ago.
She is 15 now.
She has teetered frighteningly close to death many times.
Many times I took her to the vet’s office prepared to hear the worse
diagnosis and to have to make that final decision.
With our vet’s caring touch and expertise her strong spirit
God’s and my fussing care she always seemed to
miraculously rebound.
Last Friday She disappeared quickly.
She is a house cat and never outside. Strangely she wanted only to go
outside that day. So I took her out with me while I raked leaves.
She was nearby. In only 10 minutes she disappeared without a trace.
I have scoured the shelters daily spoken to our local animal control
officers posted signs ran an ad in the newspaper and scoured the
nearby vets looking for her. No word.
Everyone told me that the reality is that she probably wandered
off to die. They advised me to have a memorial for her in lieu of not
having a body. They said that was her final act of love to spare us the
pain of watching her die.
That is why I wanted to post a memorial for her.
I was also planning a memorial service in our yard for her.
I am glad to tell you that right now I believe she will be attending
that service. Last night at 9 pm a neighbor told me that a cat
answering her exact description down to her collar (both her description
and collar are very unique) was rescued from a drain pipe near my son’s
bus stop that afternoon. She fell into the pipe the day I lost her
about the time my son was due home from school. A neighbor took her in.
When observing that she was ill (they did not know she has FIP or is 15
years old) they took her to a local vet and she is now in a local
no-kill shelter next to the vet they believe. I went to the vets she
was brought to and to the shelter – of course they are not open yet. I
left my poster with photograph and numbers there.
I hope she is still there.
Hold off on that memorial right now –
if God stays with us – we won’t be needing it quite yet.
The lady who rescued her and took her to the shelter called me.
She told me Kitty has lost much weight since she disappeared Friday.
She spent one night in a drain pipe. A man across from her picked
her up Saturday morning. He came to her because she used to
work for a vet. Kitty wasn’t eating she had anemia a high white
blood count bad diarrhea with a good deal of blood in it.
She smelled bad and was dehydrate.
The lady took her to the vet Monday where she got care.
She did get Pretty Kitty to eat and bathed her.
She was cleaned and cared for. It is touch and go and
she is still very sick. But I am at peace with it all.
Now it seems right – she is in God’s hands and I can do all that
I can for her to heal her and keep her comfortable now.
I just spoke to the shelter. They do have her. The woman
told me honestly she is in poor condition and is deteriorating quickly.
She probably does not have much longer. But we will be able to take
Pretty Kitty home make her comfortable and warm give her love.
And for each day extra we have her – she is in God’s and my arms.
One day at a time . . .
And if this is her last – at least she will be with us comfortable and
safe and surrounded by love as we lovingly hand her from my arms
here on earth to Noni’s arms in heaven with God.
(Noni is my grandmother – also a multiple-cat lover.
She was also a single mother and always was surrounded by many cats.)
Well – here is the last chapter.
Pretty Kitty made a wonderful recovery after she came back home.
She responded to an aggressive therapy wonderfully.
When she first came back to me she was only 5 lbs 4 oz.
Just before Christmas the Vet and I had her up to 7 lbs 6 oz.
She was plump her coat glossy and shiny and she was
acting years younger.
This continued with a strong recovery until
the day after Christmas.
Then her health began a strong and steep nosedive again.
She was dehydrating daily and loosing weight fast.
I took her into the Vet’s again today for another recheck and treatment.
They gave her 150 ml of fluid Ecotrin appetite stimulants and nutrients.
She was also on interferon.
They were teaching me to administer the fluids and Ecotrin
at home. She was also on interferon.
While showing me how to administer the IV she had a bowel
movement and lost all of her fluids that were just administered,
plus quite a bit of blood.
At that moment the Vet knew with certainty which of
her suspected diagnoses it was.
That explained the dehydration and the anemia.
She told me she was certain that Pretty Kitty had a cancerous
tumor. No further treatments would be effective because
she could not even hold the fluids for 30 minutes.
I prayed and said my see-you-laters.
The Vet Vet tech and I were there and helped her pass from
this world into heaven.
I prayed to God to send Nona Italina to receive her.
I know and feel she was there.
I prayed to St. Francis to be there also. The Vet
spoke soothingly to her and reminded her of being a kitten in NJ.
The Vet Tech spoke lovingly and respectfully to her.
I told her I loved her. But she was already gone.
It took only seconds for her to pass. Just seconds.
She was quiet peaceful and easy. I didn’t even know she had gone.
The vet said it was surely her time when she goes so
peacefully and so very quickly.
We knew she found a place and a way to tell us that it was
her time and we knew beyond any doubt that it truely was time
for me to let go.
We all stayed a bit and all three of us cried buckets.
The Vet and Vet Tech then talked with me about when she
was younger and her life with me.
They are cremating her for me so that I can take her with us to
our new home in July.
She will come to Coney Court with us.
The vet didn’t even charge me for this. She was wonderful.
Pretty Kitty passed on peacefully and easily.
I know she wanted to go. I also knew I couldn’t make her
suffer through the cancer any more now that we knew what
was happening.
All the pieces of the puzzle finally fit – it was right.
I prayed to God when she disappeared to give me an answer
or for one more day with her. He gave me an answer gave
Kitty to me for Christmas one more time and gave her a
wonderful rebound just before the end so that I will
always remember her at her best.
Praise God.
Maureen
| Pretty Kitty |