The Life of Thomasina

Thomasina had a life to be envied by any other cat. He was almost like a living doll to me as a young child. I remember dressing him up in doll clothes, pushing him around in a stroller, and talking to him as if he were a baby. And he graciously went along with every minute of it. He slept with me every night, either in my arms, under the covers, or at the foot of the bed. He was always purring, giving kisses, and wrapping his legs around my neck when I held him, almost like giving a hug.

Tommy was very affectionate. When I was gone from home for a time, I would come home to him, meowing happily. He would jump into my arms and purr like crazy, happy to see me. He even liked total strangers, always coming out after the initial shock of someone else being in the house, and rubbing agaist their leg. He was spoiled rotten, too. He ate whenever he wanted, got all the 'puff-balls' he could ask for, and more attention than most could handle. He was greatly loved, and gave his love back to us.

Tommy had 4 homes in the course of his life. The Humane Society (downtown Pittsburgh), the North Hills area of Pittsburgh, Gibsonia, PA, and Morgantown, WV. It was in Morgantown that I discovered that Tommy was ill. He started meowing loudly, usually after using his litter box. At first, I thought it was some sort of dementia from old age, that he was lost or confused. Then I noticed that he wasn't going to the bathroom. This promted a visit to the vet. After some bloodwork, I was told that he had Kidney Disease.

The vet asked me to come in so they could show me how to give Tom fluid injections under his skin. It tore me apart to pierce a needle into his skin, but eventually, I learned how to do it with little pain to him. I had to give in injections, via IV, at home once a week. I also was supposed to give him Iron supplements. This proved more difficult than the injections. I eventually crushed up the pills and mixed them with canned food so he would eat them.

But Tommy's condition didn't improve. He began going to the bathroom more, but it smelled terrible. He also was having accidents outside the box, which had never happened before. I did research online and began feeding him all kinds of home remedies, from canned pumpkin to Gatorade. Nothing seemed to help much. He was still active and happy, but had lost weight and just didn't look right.

On April 31, about a year after the initial diagnosis, I came home to find him acting weird. He was just moving slowly and not being himself. I was so worried. I held him in my arms and he didn't even try to move. I knew it was bad. He slowly became worse and worse, struggling to even keep his eyes open. After a painful last few minutes, he took his last breath in my arms around 5am, May 1, 2004.

I had never cried so hard in my life. A major part of my life had just gone away. I never thought I would recover, but over time, I have. My boyfriend drove me home later that morning to my parents house so I could burry him. He now rests at the edge of our back yard, under a mosaic headstone I made for him.

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Purred by: Kaci Sunshine - Dreamgirl #3 (Catster Member)

February 21st 2010 at 2:40 pm