I know I tweeted about Alexis, but when I look back at my entries, I’ve written for each of our babies on the day we lost them. So I feel as if I cheated her if I don’t write something. This one is a week late, but I was really trying to get through it last week.
On the 4th hubby gave Alexis her meds and felt a a very hard lump under her chin. We made an appt and took her into the vet on the 7th, a Sat. It was one of either 2 things….an infected tooth (with her history a good possiblity) or a tumor. The vet said he never felt an infected tooth that hard, but it still could be. Said we can do an antibiotic and if it is an infected tooth the swelling would go down and then we can have it removed. If a tumor, there was no way we would put her through that. It would not improve her quality or quantity of life.
We tried that, but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t working. =( She started to issues with drooling and the whites that cover her eyes when sleeping weren’t moving back in place when she opened them from sleeping. Hubby tried to put a bowl of small pieces of food to the side for her to eat, but she would refuse to eat. She stubbornly would eat the big pieces and, of course, we knew she won’t eat soft food….tried that many times. The swelling never went down. =(
Hubby called the vet Tues and gave him an update….and made the appt for Sat the 14th….I totally lost it when he told me.
We got Alexis in Dec of ’94 when hubby gave her to me when I came home from failing my German final. She was officially a holiday present for me, but actually she was a present for his cat Randi….lol Randi was lonely, she was in town, so not allowed out for hunting, no dogs to pick on, and my cat Aurora would have nothing to do with her….lol She was the 1st cat that we got while together. She was the last connection to Randi, Aurora and Reggie.
She has gone through hell with medical issues the last few years. She always had an issue with puking up her food over the years, but since the other cats tossed something (usually furballs) we just thought it was her. She was a chunky cat, about 11pounds….so not small at all. When I went to IN to visit family in Dec ’08, hubby had to take her in when she meowed in a very scary way at him. She had an urinary tract infection that could’ve killed her, in tests for that they discovered that she had a hyperthyroid.
Which answered the question of her weight lost over the last year and why for the 1st time in her life she would meow at for things in the kitchen. This is a cat that didn’t like milk, would maybe lick tuna juice, won’t eat any human food and refuse soft food….would only really eat meow mix.
What the vet told us, the hyperthyroid is like an engine running at full throttle and the gas not keeping up. So even if she didn’t like, she would actually try the meat we offered her. If we didn’t get her on meds or get her treated, she would be dead very quickly at that point.
Here is the link to that post : Kitty Update & Life : http://www.paulineantoinette.com/2009/01/03/kitty-update-life/
Then we discovered that half of her teeth were rotten and needed replacing in June ’09 : http://www.paulineantoinette.com/2009/06/12/alexis-the-rest/
Ever since she had to deal with us giving her meds to keep her regular. During all of this, she has stubbornly carried on. Barely complaining, which made it is easier for us to miss things. =( But I really miss her quiet determination and her demand for my attention.
The Sunday after we took her to the vet to ask about the lump, she was stubbornly trying to open the sliding closet door (which she had, unfortunately, taught the wonder twins how to open….lol) with what remained of her teeth. Hubby thinks she was the most stubborn of all of our cats. =)
I picked up her ashes and feel much better that she is backed home. She is up on the bookshelf with our other 3 and their pictures.
Love and miss you Alexis. I hope that you knew how much we loved you.
