Not all the days are sunny and bright...

After the euphoria of last week, things are much different today. On Thursday evening I realized that one of our beloved cats had breathing problems. Not something that you would notice easily, because felines never let you know they don’t feel well, but it was suspicious. We arranged for an appointment at our vet immediately for Friday morning. It wasn’t until the vet did an X-ray that she realized that our poor cat’s lungs were full of water. She sent us immediately to a specialized veterinary clinic, where they extracted the water and performed all kinds of tests to see what was wrong.

Turns out our kitty has FIP, which is an uncurable feline illness, always fatal. It actually is a mutation of a common feline virus, that most cats have been exposed to, only some end up with the virus taking an ugly turn in their bodies. The form our kitty has is likely to kill her within 2-4 weeks from the start – so by the judgement of the vet in the clinic it would have been wise to put her to sleep right on Friday evening when we picked her up from the clinic.

No way I could have done that – I needed to say my goodbye to the cat, because my furry babies are just my babies, and I love them dearly. So we took DCat home with the anticipation that on the following day, there would be one last trip to the vet clinic.

Well our cat is a real fighter! If we didn’t know she was dying, I’d say she was getting better! She is eating well (something the vet said she wouldn’t do at all), she was even begging scraps of meat as I was cooking yesterday! She of course can’t perform physically straining things, but she will jump on the sofa to be with us, or run for the sound of the food bowl being filled up. I am proud of her.

I spent Friday and Saturday crying my eyes out, can’t really say I am fine today, but at least better. I don’t know how many days more we have, and since there is no hope for a permanent cure, we will not have the cat be operated again (it is likely that her lungs will fill up with water again and that will kill her), buying her a couple more days. Once her health will start failing her again, we will have her put to sleep. Our vet is willing to do that at our home, so it will be peaceful for her.... just like laying down for a long, eternal sleep.

You will always be in our hearts, Miriam...