Hi everybody. My name is Maranda and I'm dealing with a heart breaking situation right now. My 3 year old cat Husker is at the vets office due to illness and is scheduled to be put to sleep tonight when the dr gets back into town. I took him there about 3 weeks ago bc I thought he had a bladder infection ( he used to get them when he was a kitten ) only to find out that he had a blockage in his bladder. The vet ran a catheter and flushed his bladder out and sent him home after a few days. By the following weekend, he had another blockage. My boyfriend took him to the vets office last Monday and he has been there ever since. His bladder has been clogged five times since hes been there. The dr called me this morning and recommended putting him to sleep. I am devestated! He is such a sweet cat...he likes to lay on your chest and put his face against your face....and a few times a week, I wake up and hes laying on my chest just purring away. I am going to miss him so much!! We still have his brother Miles though....and I'm not sure how I'm going to get Miles through this either. We adopted them from the humane society 3 years ago and they have never been apart. Any advice on how to cope? Thanks

That is so sad. Such a young kitty. Have you asked your vet why he thinks this is an untreatable condition? I don't know much about bladder crystals.

Hi,

I'm so sorry to hear about this. It's so sad to have to lose a kitty so young. Please keep us updated.

You're in my thoughts.

Cheryl x

Hi mmh--

I was so sorry to learn yesterday of your plight with Husker. I wonder if everything went as planned last night? If so, I am so very sorry for your loss, but it did seem (from what I know from chat, especially) that you were doing the right thing for him.

I know that you may be in too much pain to write, but please keep us posted when you can. All of our hearts are with you during this sad, sad time..

Hugs from Margi, Spiritwolf, and Sir Leopold

Thank you Kurt, Cheryl, and Margi for your support! Husker was put to rest last night. I am feeling so many emotions right now...I do believe that we did the right thing for him. To answer your question Kurt, Husker had reoccuring bladder stones/crystals, so the only solution was to do an expensive surgery that had many complications and risks. We did talk to another vet who confirmed what our vet was saying. The other vet also said that half of the time, the cat ends up worse off than before the surgery. So, our decision was to put Husker to sleep. Pray for us during this tough time...thank you.

Maranda


***RIP HUSKER MOMMY LOVES YOU***

I've been trying to put a picture of him on here, but all my pictures are too big =(

Maranda,

I am so sorry to hear about Husker. You did everything right, you talked to your vet about your options and got a second opinion from another vet. It sounds like the surgery was VERY iffy and would have put Huskers thru a lot of pain and the success of the surgery would have been slim. You so did the right thing for Huskers.

I am praying for you, Huskers, and your family.

We are all here for you when you need us.

Love,
Rhapsedy

Oh Maranda, I know you must feel just torn apart right now. I was in kind of a similar situation with my cat, where I could have kept trying to treat her, but I felt like it didn't make sense to put her through any more of that. Just yesterday I was talking to a friend who lost her 11-year-old cat to cancer, and she says she regrets putting him through surgery because the surgery didn't go well at all, and the cat had to be put down a few days afterward.

Keep checking in. We're here for you.

Hi Maranda, when I lost Mink (black kitty in avatar) I knew that his brother Willow (gray kitty, littermate) would need another buddy. The last two times I've adopted, I brought home pairs of kittens, and it's SIX times more fun than a single kitten. So I went to the Kitten Rescue and brought home Rohan and Luna. Two also takes the pressure off the older cat to immediately bond, since the kittens have each other. Rohan, however, knows his purpose on this planet is to be Willow's best buddy in the world, and they snuggle together constantly. As you move through your grief, think it over. Take care of yourself well through this time, my deepest condolences. {{{Hugs}}} Kim

How you doing today, Maranda?

Bad. Last night all the of the questions started kicking in. Was HE ready to go? Did he want to stay and fight? Did we give up too easily? Should we have taken him to another vet? Should we have taken him to a surgeon? Is he happy wherever hes at? There is an energy that is missing from our house now that hes gone. I feel its absence everytime I walk in the door.. He was the mischevious one of the household and everyone misses that.

Yes, Maranda, I've been there. I know just what you're talking about. It makes sense that night time is more difficult, because the intellectual, problem-solving part of your brain starts shutting off as you're getting ready to sleep, and that's when all kind of anxiety and guilt can rise up from your subconscious. For the first two weeks after we put Flo down, I was taking prescription tranquilizers every night. It took me about four weeks to just to get to a level of peace where I could function on a day-to-day basis. Be patient with yourself. Even if you know intellectually that you made the right decision for Husker, it's going to take a while for the rest of you to catch up with that intellectual part of you.

All of those questions, Maranda, are perfectly normal, painful as they are for you. We can never know exactly what our pets might have wanted, except that we know that they looked to us for guidance and wisdom and decision-making, since they can't do it on their own. You made a choice in favor of Husker's comfort--a choice that would relieve all the pain he was in, and save him from what sounded like hideously invasive procedures that might not have saved his life anyway. Would YOU have wanted to stay and fight against impossible odds, in extreme pain, had it been your own body? Probably not, although I don't know you well enough to answer that for you.

Yes, you will feel his absence for some time to come. This is so fresh and new and raw for you--be gentle on yourself, and let yourself feel whatEVER you are feeling. There's no right or wrong in the grieving process. Keep breathing and keep eating. One moment at a time.

My heart is with you--

Big hugs from Margi, Spiritwolf, and Sir Leopold

Dear Maranda,

I'm so very sad and sorry about your loss of Husker. Like others and Ladywolf said, you did the humane thing. I am on this site after losing my beloved Kota, almost 17 years of age...two months ago. Many, many years ago, I had another dog, whom at age 7 contracted cancer. I took him to U.C. Davis, the state of the art veterinary school located in California. I slept in my car in their parking lot for two nights while they evaluated him. They said they could to exploratory surgery but he'd have no quality of life afterwards. On his last day they wheeled him outside on a cart and I played my guitar for him. These kind of memories and hurts never leave you. But I did manage to move on back then. Now I'm very stuck about my loss of Kota, my special once-in-a-lifetime dog.

What I'm saying is that I feel, and know you know, that you did the exact right loving humane thing for Husker. It's so terrible to have had to say goodbye after only three years. His quality of life would most likely have not improved. Who knows why certain animals get sick at such a young age. I know the emptiness and longing you feel when coming back home now. It's too soon to understand or try to make sense of it. Leave it at, well, that you just miss and love him dearly. Like others said, please write here and let us know your feelings, whatever and whenever they come up. It's such a tragic loss. You are understood and accepted here. Peace to Husker.

Dennis

Hi, Maranda, please permit me to offer you my sincerest sympathies in the loss of your beloved Husker. Losing a beloved companion is never easy regardless of the circumstances or how long we have been blessed with the privilege of their company.

I do understand your concern for your Miles, as I have been going through a similar situation with my Noah. The best "advice" I can offer is to just give Miles extra attention. Make sure that he is eating and drinking water okay. If he loses his appetite for several days and / or stops drinking fluids, you will want to take him to the vet as quickly as possible. Sometimes our furkids can become ill from the stress of their grieving.

Maranda, even though we "know" we have done the best thing by our beloved companions, we still go through a grief journey that is comprised of so many different emotions - - highs and lows, ups and downs and turnarounds - - that sometimes we just don't know which way is up. One of the many important things to remember is that you are not alone in this journey. Each of us here do understand how you are feeling, and we are here for you for as long and as often as you need us.

Maranda, please know you are in my thoughts and prayers, and please let us know how you're doing.

Peace and blessings,
moon_beam

Hello Maranda,
I just left you a long message in my post about Cleo as I didn't see that you started a thread of your own. I am so sorry to hear about Husker's passing. I am thinking about you and hope you find some sort of peace through this difficult time.

-Christine

Hey everybody. Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I am doing a tiny bit better. Instead of crying all the time, I can think of Husker and smile. But I'm still having trouble accepting the fact that hes gone forever.

Been thinking about you, wondering how you're doing. Had several poignant reminders of Mink lately -- sometimes it still shocks me to lose him at only 3 years old for no reason other than he crossed the road. How's the other kitty doing? Love and hugs to you both, Kim

I'm doing alright I guess. I cant believe that its only been a short time since Huskers been gone. It feels like its been forever. Just yesterday, my boyfriend came home and was greeting the cats.."hey Miles, hey Husker, hey Lucky..." we are just so used to all 3 of them being at the door when you come home...its habit still to look for all of them. Its funny because you still expect to find them doing the things they used to do...Husker, for example, would shred toilet paper. I still go in the bathroom expecting to find a shredded roll on the floor. The rest of the animals seem to be doing okay...Miles still has his times when I think hes sad and hes wondering what happened to his brother. Lucky has really helped Miles out though. I always knew there was a reason that Lucky picked our house to stop at, and now I know why. If you didnt know, Lucky camped out under our carport during a blizzard the first winter that we moved into our house. Our intentions were to find him a new home, but that home ended up being our home. But I just wanted to tell you thank you for keeping me in your thoughts. I still get on this web site alot and just read other people's posts. Well, I will try to keep you updated...thanks again for thinking of me.



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LUCKY


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MYA


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HUSKER...RIP...WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU

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MILES, HANGING OUT IN THE SINK =)

Gorgeous pics Thanks for sharing and for letting us know how you're getting on.

Hugs, Cheryl x