OT---I miss my cat

[junie]

Thank you so much for letting us hear your wonderful story, RIP. with all the brave animals
that are in Heaven that are going to help you there.
I'm so sorry for your loss.

[quiltweaver]

I firmly trust and believe that when you leave this world for the other side, your beloved pets who went before you will be the first to greet you when you arrive. What a heartwarming, joyous reunion that will be!

[spottydogspot]

Tears of sadness for your loss, our pets love us like no other, sounds like you treated each other well......

[LoQ]

t-bone, thank you for that moving tribute to your cat. My condolences to you and to others who expressed their grief on this thread over losing a pet. Those are tough losses.

[carbonman]

As with all the cats I’ve buried, I miss him terribly.

t-bone, I have felt your pain many times,
and always come back again, for more.

One of the cats we have now was saved from the pound.
He was sick and recovering. The vet at the shelter said he
was very lucky because no one wanted him.

I said to her,
"This cat just cashed in a winning ticket in the kitty lotto.
He will never want for anything again in his life."
He is just a wonderful companion.

It sounds like the same is true in your house.

[yorkiemum01]

Gosh T-bone...I dont know who was more blessed, you to have Al, or Al to have such a wonderful
loving home. Thank you for sharing his story. Pets are treasures who remain in our hearts long
after their passing to the Rainbow Bridge.

We too, also have four felines sharing our home. Our oldest cat, Nala, came home to us in 1994 (named after the Lion King movie), and since that time my son has rescued 3 more homeless cats, who we all adore. My 15 yr old son has a tender spot for cats, so instead of bringing them all home, he's begun volunteering at our local humane society, and its been a good fit for both feline and him. He gets real joy playing with the cats, burshing them, cleaning their cages and especially bringing a family together with their new adoption, rewarding work. Our feline friends are blessings from the Lord.

[t-bone]

Thanks to all for the condolences. Thank you, too, who shared your own stories.

I am not a religious person, and do not worry about "after life." However, for many years, I've (only part-jokingly) told folks that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as someone's well-loved house cat.

There is logic to my wish, of course. All the pets I could enjoy, the best sleep spots, good food and enough of it, medical care...and all I have to do is purr and play cat games.

I mentioned this to one friend, who said, "Aren't the rules of reincarnation that you come back as the same level or perhaps move up one?"

"And your point is?" I asked...

One of Al's favorite sleep spots, from two angles. There is a pane missing from the house window, and he (and other cats) use it for access to what we have taken to calling the "greenhouse":

[6PtStar]

Yep, had to be a yellow and white tabby. I lost my yellow and white tabby about 2 months ago. His story was almost like yours. He also developed feline diabetes. Gave him insulin shots for about 2 years. Still hard to think about him. He was 14 years old. I have not been able to replace him yet.

Jerry

[gasparama]

oh, t-bone. Thank you for sharing this heart warming tribute to a great family member. It was difficult for me to read because I love my cat so much. You've set a wonderful example for us all in the way you loved and treated dear Al.

Jane

[elg5cats]

So sorry for your loss of Al, very nice tribule.....equally nice to see so many supportive cat people here. My photo Kitty, my best feline friend ever (KoKo) passing anniversary is coming up in next month............her now almost 17 year old kitten, Sami was lying in her basket tonight!!! There's a nice online memorial site for forever memories of our special fur, feathers, scaled and other friends.....called Rainbowsbidges.com Your tribute to Al would be a great addition to the site! I have a group of kat angels over there! Again, so sorry for your loss.....may memories soothe the pain in your heart!!!!

[Paul56]

In April 2008 my cat (a female seal-point mitted Ragdoll of 18 pounds) who lives with my mom took sick. Mom thought she heard a cry from the bedroom and from that point forward Molly was not herself... walking very slow, not interested in food, laying on the floor with something obvious wrong.

Mom took her to the vet and there started the saga. Molly hated being at the vet and would growl at the staff there which is highly unusual for her... I have never heard her growl myself. Tests... tests... and more tests. They had her on oxygen, had to shave off huge chunks of her fur, inserted a needle to drain fluid from around the heart, etc etc. The vet kept recommending more tests by saying "this next test will tell me what the issue is"... so naturally we would agree... and once again the vet would come back with the "it is inconclusive". Finally the vet suggested we take Molly on a 500 mile trip into the city where a cardiac specialist could read on an ultrasound of her heart. We decided against that considering the Molly is not a good traveler. Despite saying he could not read the ultrasound very well the vet went ahead with that procedure himself... as I noted on the final invoice of over $1,000.

We brought Molly home and gave her the short run of medications they provided. Very gradually Molly started to improve and gain back her appetite for food and water. The vet did not give her very long given that everything was pointing to HCM. In the early stages I was expecting Molly to be gone within weeks. Well... those weeks dragged into months... it has now been over a year since the original episode with no recurrence and Molly back to her old self. I would expect with HCM she would not have lasted nearly this long... so while I hold that diagnosis still in the background my faith in it has diminished.

The vet, on the other hand, shortly after Molly's episode purchased and renovated a new facility that is 4-times the size of his old location. We are left $1,000+ lighter in the wallet with no conclusive diagnosis as to what happened and for Molly... the whole thing is a distant memory if that and has been living happily at home for the past year.

I'm not quite sure what to think about the vet... except to say that on a couple of counts I was very dissatisfied. He kept setting our expectations that "this one more test will tell me what is wrong"... I cannot say how many times we hear that. He recommended that we take her 500 miles to a cardio specialist for the ultrasound claiming he could not read it... yet went ahead and did the ultrasound himself and naturally charged us for it. Something happened to Molly and we may never know what. If it was a first attack of HCM then it is highly unusual she is still with us a year later... so as more time passes my faith in that "diagnosis" is diminished.