Tag!

I've been tagged by Tiger

Here are the rules:

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Cats who are tagged need to write in their own diaries about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven cats to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your diary!

1) I purred constantly. When checking my heart beat as a kitten, the vet had to walk around with me for fifteen minutes to get me to stop purring.

2) I got along better with the dogs than the cats. I guess you could say I was dog's best friend! (Or rather I allowed them to be friends with me)

3) I enjoyed going outside at night, but I was afraid to go outside during the day.

4) I liked walking across mom's stomach when she was sleeping. She shouldn't be sleeping while I'm awake!

5) I never meowed. Not even when I wanted something.

6) My cat mom, sister, and I were found under a porch.

7) I was trained to a leash and a harness.


That was fun! I tag..

Icey
Rags
Aragorn
Oliver
Checkie
Nala
Momo

Thank you

Autumn's mom here. First I would like to thank everyone for their prayers, purrs, and rosettes. Unfortunately, the time has ended for Autumn. She has FeLV in her bone marrow. As of 3:00 today, eastern time, Autumn will have crossed the rainbow bridge where she will be disease-free and be able to chase the birds once again.

Update: It's been a rough week. I wasn't able to have Autumn PTS on Thursday, the 28th. She seemed better so I took her home. The vet was against this idea. She said since she could have FeLV in her bone marrow and it could express and put the other cats in danger. I said my good-byes that Thursday and Friday. I took her back to the vet on Saturday morning at 10 am and had it done. I mostly was thinking of the other cats, but I was thinking of her as well. I had already watched her suffer. Her life was nothing but a slow deterioration. The previous weekend was the worst and I did not want to see her like that again. The vet had said she would probably only live another week, and I didn't want her to be miserable before death. She crossed the rainbow bridge approximately 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 30. This was the hardest decision I ever had to make.

Update on my condition

I am still in the hospital. Mom sure hasn't heard of a kitty staying in the hospital this long! The vet called and told her I was very sick, and they are still not sure what is going on. She told mom that I have an enlarged liver, but the only way to find out what is exactly wrong with my liver would be to do a biopsy, but I am in no shape for that right now! She said that I could have bone cancer or it could be a tumor. I could still have FeLV or FIP. It could be in my bone marrow so it wouldn't be contagious to the other kitties. She told mom to be "guardedly optimistic".

The next day, one of the techs called mom. She said that the vet would call her the following day about my condition. Mom's afraid this could go either way. Could be good news or bad news. She said that it was a holding day so they didn't poke or prod me too much. Which was nice! I was eating better and I was resting comfortably. She did say, however, I had loose stools. The tech told me that mom said she didn't care if I had loose stools because I was really good at going to the litterbox. She only cared if I made it back home to her. Purr!

What a Week

My mom noticed that I wasn't myself a few weeks ago. She just dismissed it as me growing up and maturing. But I was withdrawing myself more and more from the other housecats and I stopped coming to her for pets. I'm not a particularly cuddly cat so she didn't think too much of it.

But Friday morning, June 22, I caught her attention. I was laying on the foot of the bed with a faraway look in my eyes. At this time, she wasn't sure what to think. So instead of jumping to conclusions, she decided to keep an eye on me during the weekend and take me to the vet on Monday. She went on to work, but I know she thought about me the entire day. That evening when she came home, I was in the same spot. I was not interested in moving. I mosied around a bit, but I was not feeling well. Sometimes humans can be slow. It's hard to communicate anything to them. She left me on her bed and allowed me to sleep with her (which she never does! She says I'm too noisy at night) I didn't move the entire night. The next morning, Saturday, she had to go to work early, but she tried to call the vet from work. No one answered, but she did call really early. So on Saturday night, she was pretty much forcing me to eat. She could feel my spine when she petted me but I still looked fluffy in the tummy. As I was eating some canned food she placed in front of me, she stared at me and said something about white gums. Then she seemed to be really worried. She scavaged the internet for answers. Every webpage she went to pointed to the same thing. Anemia.

Now she had a dilemma. It was Saturday evening and there wasn't a vet that was open. There were the emergency vets, but they charge a high office fee and they require you pay all the money on the spot. They do not allow payment options. On Sunday evening, I had secluded myself in the spare bedroom. Not much action happens in that room. There's a bed that never gets used so that's where I went. She came in with a bowl of water. Throughout the night, I drunk the entire bowl by myself. The other kitties would come and see what I had and would walk away when they realized it was just water. Wow. I felt bad. I rested with my head on the bowl. Later she brought some dry food in. I munched a little but didn't commit myself to anything.

Monday morning, I was on the floor of the bedroom. She always checks on me first when she wakes up before doing anything else. Not to mention, she kept coming in to check on me during the night on Sunday. I could not muster enough energy to get back on the bed so the floor was just fine. She put me back on the bed so I could get to the water. Then she went to take the dogs out for their potty trips. When she brought the first one back in, I ran out the door, like the old days. I laid on the porch. She left me there until it was ready for her to leave. She had a final exam she had to take before I could go to the vet. She called the vet on the way to work. The woman told her to get me there as soon as possible. This, of course, panicked my mom. It's easy to do that anyway. So mom rushed through her final exam and rushed back home to take me to the vet. I got there an hour earlier than she had planned.

Since the vet was busy and had already received several emergencies before I even arrived, they told her she could drop me off and come back to get me later. They would call her. Well she did receive a call about ten minutes later when she pulled up to Petsmart. There was a large mass in my abdomen and they wanted to x-ray it and test me for feline leukemia and FIP. She gave her consent to do whatever is necessary for me. So she goes on about her day and decides to waste a bit of time at places close to the vet so she wouldn't have to drive all the way back. Well she hadn't heard anything else in a couple of hours so she decided to go home. When she still hadn't heard anything, she decided to call the vet. They told her I would have to stay overnight, but I would be okay. Later on, the vet that I was with all day called.

She told my mom that I tested negative for both diseases, but I was moderate to severely anemic. They do not know what caused it yet, but they are assuming that my body is destroying my red blood cells. The large mass in my stomach is either an enlarged spleen or an enlarged liver. And they don't know which it is yet. My PVC is 11.5 when it should be around 40-50. They were surprised that was even semi-alert! They had to send my bloodwork to a lab and it should actually be back today. They will be sending steroids and antibiotics home with me when they release me. Mom leaves for work soon so she will call them if she doesn't hear anything soon.

Please send purrs my way so she doesn't worry too much!

Thank you, Phoebe, for the rosette.