19th January 2008

My 4-Legged Kids 2 replies

My 16 1/2 year old orange tabby/marmalade, Max, is dying.  He’s actually been dying for about a year.  He’s been hyperthyroid for about two years, and has had some really violent bouts of sickness over the past year.  The other night, he woke me up around 4 a.m., to let me know he was “not” feeling well at all.  He licked his chops and I knew this was more than a hairball.  He got quite sick, so bad, that I was doing laundry in the middle of the night.  He felt so sick, and was in so much pain, that I made that difficult visit to the vet to arrange his closure on life.   I wanted to arrange it for that day.

I have five four-legged kids, three cats, two dogs.  I also have four fish but they’re at the office, but they’re not four-legged, right?  I’ve had Max and Misha for nearly 17 years.  They were adopted from the Humane Society in Columbus - when it was out on Alum Creek.  I rescued them from a mean grey kitty cat in the cage, but it was Misha who snagged me, literally as I walked by his cage.  He literally reached his mitten paws out and grabbed my shirt.  So, I had to take him and his brother home.

Nearly 17 years later, these two kitties have meant the world to me.  We think Max has liver cancer, in addition to hyperthyroid disease.  The hyperthyroid of course causes his liver numbers to skyrocket. 

Max Cat

If you’ve ever put an animal to sleep, it sucks, really, really sucks.  The wierd thing though is that every single time Max gets so bad that I actually call the vet to come and put him to sleep, Max gets better, miraculously, by the time the vet might actually make himself/herself available to do the deed.   I even told him that day, it’s okay to let go.  Max has always been there for me - he’s always baby-sat me and the other animals if they were sick - he’s the one that stood watch - always.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bizresearch/2203413356/in/set-72157603750080571/  He’s saved me from missing a few flights, he’s walked on my back a million times in the middle of the night, he’s launched my bed across the room to tell me it’s time to eat MOM, he’s the best alarm clock in the world.  He can get into any bag of food in record time.  He’s always had a thing for bagels and any bread product.   

Tonight - he curled up with me and his brother on the couch - he’s always had a thing for putting his paws into the dog’s hair, my hair, the cat’s hair.  He’s so tender.  And, I’m going to really miss him. 

2 Responses to “My 4-Legged Kids”

  1. Martha says:
    February 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 am

    I am so sorry for your loss. How amazing to share our life with animals.

  2. Kristi from CA says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    Hi Laura,

    I was thinking about you today. I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. I enjoyed reading your stories about your sweet animals.

    I’m also thrilled to hear you are starting IVF. I hope it works for you and will definitely be checking back in. My girlfriend just had beautiful twin girls from her 3rd IVF round (1 fresh, 1 frozen, and the 2nd fresh worked! themarvintwins.com) so I definitely wish good luck on you! There are sooo many IVF baby blogs out there with a great support system. Also the board at BabyCenter.com are wonderful too.

    Good luck!

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