Rainy Days & Mondays, part three

 A very sad day. We had to put our tiny Nemo-cat to sleep. She has been struggling to stay healthy for months, and we've been helping-- giving her IV fluids and force-feeding her when necessary, and giving her a variety of medications to try and treat what we hoped was a thyroid condition, or possibly irritable bowel...

If you have been reading for the last couple of days, you know that we took her to the vet again on Sunday. We brought her back home, hopeful, but with no new information. She seemed unchanged, if a little grouchy. Sometime on Sunday evening, she broke out of the dressing area/bathroom where she had been sequestered away from the other cats, who like to steal her high-nutrient food. Try as we might, we simply could not locate her-- and we searched high, low, under, over... It's a big house, and for the better part of two days she eluded us, hiding without food or water. I think I knew when she didn't appear for her usual evening repast at our bedtime that there was something more sinister going on.

I finally found her today, under my daughter's bed behind a few stray plush animals and a couple of board games, her favorite place. She was lethargic and pitiful, drooping in my arms like a little black furry bag of bones. She had no interest in her food but scarcely enough energy to fight me as I dribbled it from the syringe into her mouth. I set up the IV fluids and hoped the hydration would rally her energy, to no avail. Sadly, I gathered the kids and called the vet.

I had little hope as we entered the office, and my fears were proven valid. The vet believes she had lymphoma, which mimics the symptoms of the other illnesses we had hoped to cure. We know that she was in some pain, wasting away and hiding from her girl, the one she loved best. It would not be a kindness to hold her to this life. She died peacefully in my daughter's arms, who at twelve bravely faced a decision that many adults have trouble making. We cried, we talked about her short but happy life, her quirky little scaredy-cat personality, and we said good-bye. My daughter now wears Nemo's collar as a bracelet, the little bells ringing to remind us of our little black shadow.

I have created a cat element to honor Nemo's memory, and a QP. Click the images to download form MediaFire, or right click and save.

Today, from Rainy Days & Mondays, a duck. Also, a cloud to carry your thoughts, a grassy hillside, a flower, and a frame to hold it all together.

Click HERE to download from 4shared, and HERE from MediaFire.