Hi all,
Sorry I've been AWOL so long (and I forgot my user info so have re-registered). It's been a long tough year - I have been (and still am) unemployed since the end of April but the good part is I got to spend a lot of time with The Sheriff before he passed on.
I presume his 10% kidney functioning (for nearly 2 years) caught up to him...our hottest day of the year he was rather panting like a dog. Vet found nothing wrong with him and he was still at 10%.
Then in October he developed out-of-the-box litter habits and seemed constipated. His white blood cell count was elevated without reason, so the vet had him on antibiotics for a week.
He seemed to get better, then deteriorated again and on Monday before Halloween we started a second round. He was also constipated at this time and I was giving him pumpkin per the vet (which I understand can take 48 hrs to kick in).
Late on Wednesday, Halloween, he had lost the ability to use his rear legs and was in the classic head down splayed out position and had gone blind. I was taking him in on Thursday because the immobile hind legs is often related to constipation. I held my boy in my lap for a couple of hours until he struggled a bit - I thought he finally had the need for the box and put him in it. His head lolled over to the side and my boy was gone.
Just like my Sam to depart this world in a litter box; we had bonded over the same for those who remember the story.
18 years is a long time; I miss my boy so terribly. He had gotten rather affectionate in the last few years, curling up with me in bed in the mornings and all.
I have since welcomed two new cats from the rescue into my home: Kahlua (a dilute tortie short-hair colored Siamese) that very Saturday and two weeks later, Brandy (a medium-hair black tortie). Kahlua had ripped out her spaying stitches (didn't need THAT bill) and Brandy still has some lingering ear infection (minor, but still, another bill I don't need).
I've gone from one bad boy to two bad girls although my preference was for another medium-haired male.
The girls meow hello to their new friends and the two of them may well team up to force 'puter time for them. (Ahem, if the two of them CAN team up - they tolerate each other but it's only been a week + 2 days since their introduction).
I'll post their photos another time (unless I can post more than one) - here's a final look at my dear Sam.
