# New. bereaved & sleep deprived



## MsMichael (May 11, 2013)

Salutations to the List,


I am new to the forum. I am not however to new to being OWNED by animals! I am under no illusions as to whom owns who in my house, when it comes to fur-children.:smile:


3 Weeks ago, my best friend showed up on my doorstep clutching an itty-bitty ball of fluff, begging me to "save it, please". It was a 3 week old kitten that someone had abandoned int the courtyard of my friend's apartment complex. The kitten was within an hour of dying from dehydration. RUSHED to the vet for emergency fluids. She weighed 3 oz!!:sad

Long Story short... kitten was hand fed every 2 hrs. bathed and cleaned. belly stroking to get bladder and bowels to work.

One week later, she started to cough and had a runny eye. BACK TO VET. Kitty given antibiotics and eye drops. Vet advised starting quality wet kitten food. She weighed 6ozs...

One week later, kitten appeared to have trouble breathing. Back to vet. X-RAYED. chest is clear, everything where it should be... the problem, kitten has sooo much gas in gut / bowels that it displaced her diaphragm (muscle that facilitates breathing). Vet recommends sheep yogurt with probiotics. She weighs 16.8 OZS!!!! Vet confides to me, that he didn't think the kitten would survive when I First brought her in to him. He told me the "average" person wouldn't want or be able to give the intense care the poor baby needed. so NOT average:cool

MEANWHILE, at the sametime...We (husband and I) were caring for our 21 year old cat, Purrs. We lost Purrs' brother and mother in 2012, at 19 and 20 years respectively.

Purrs had had 2 prior strokes. He recovered with home therapy.

My joke was that we should have named this cat "timex", because he survived things that would have taken the average cat. My husband was of the opinion that Purrs expect to use up all of his 9 lives

Sadly, 2 weeks ago our grey old man suffered another stroke. This stroke took away his ability to walk. We knew he would not be rebounding from this stroke. So on Monday 4/29/13, we had to have Purrs euthanized.

Gary and I stayed with him through it all. I Was there when he came into the world, I was going to be there as he left it. ( Vet was touched, and sent us a Bereavement card the next day). We managed to stay calm as the meds were given (didn't want to stress him with crying) and tried really hard not to break down as Purrs fought the sedative. He didn't want to leave us, but he did settle, and while held in our arms the Dr administered the final shot. After we made sure he could no longer hear us, we lost it. Cried all the way to the pet cemetery, and I held him the whole way... He was my baby...

Purrs is now at rest within the same box as his brother. They spent their entire lives together, until Boo passed. It seems only right that they spent Eternity together was well. (yes, their ashes will be mixed with ours, so we'll stay a family as well)

So while I grieve the loss of my old baby, I am caring for a new one. I Feel so lucky that an angel knew that we were going to lose our boy, so made sure that my friend was there to find our little girl.

Ms Michael
(dad wanted a boy :-?)


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## chuck72 (Jan 30, 2012)

Welcome, but stop it! I'm bawling! So nice to to hear you loved your kitties their whole life and you were there at the very end. I have had to do it 3 times myself and there is no sadder moment in life, I swear. 

So did I miss your new kitten's name? How about a pic? Again welcome, Chuck.


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## Mylita (Jan 23, 2013)

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, that has to hurt terribly. I've been there too. Take time to grieve and treat yourselves well. 

It is wonderful that you have a kitten to console yourselves, that will help a lot. What is her name? Sounds like you have saved her life, you and she will have a long time together and an incredible bond. I'd love to see pictures of her and of Purrs. 

Mylita


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

You wrote so beautifully about your heart-break. I'm glad you've got your new baby to help you.


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

That is so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. I am very sorry about the loss of your boy, Purrs. Thank you for taking care of the orphan kitty. I am glad she is doing so well now. It is very touching to me that when the time comes, your ashes will be mixed with your fur babies ashes. That made me cry, I think it is beautiful.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Such a bitter sweet story! SO sad you lost your established clan so close to each other! Making that final decision is SO hard and heartbreaking but best for the furbaby, I know. I'm glad you have a new little girl to keep you busy and your mind occupied! Welcome to the forum and keep us updated on new baby's progress!


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## marie5890 (May 18, 2011)

Special angels watch over us who are guardians of God's creatures. Welcome to the forum. Sorry for the loss of your special ones and what a wonderful home you have for the lost....

God Bless


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss of Purrs, but am so impressed at everything you've done, and are doing, for the kitties in your life. Every kitty should have a person like you. 

You've come to the right place. In addition to being very knowledgeable about cats, almost everyone here has lost a kitty at some time in their lives, and we totally get how painful it is.


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## wallycat (Nov 10, 2012)

I am so sorry for Purr's passing. No matter how long and great a life, the loss is always painful.
How is the kitten doing? Should we assume you will keep it?? post pix and hope you have many great years with the new one who needs your love so desperately.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

What a long loved life Purrs lived.


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## MsMichael (May 11, 2013)

*Sad and Happy.. update*

Hello to all who replied to my first posting.

I also cried as I wrote that first post. Thankfully, while I still miss my old boy, I have this new little furball to keep me from falling too far down the well of unhappiness.

On the bright side,our new little girl finally has a name! 

Gary and I were waiting for the "AH" moment to reveal a trait or personality quirk that would lead to a name. It happened last night at dinner. Gary was telling family members about our new addition.

To quote Gary, " Our little girl constantly makes this "hink" noise, even when deep asleep. The only time this changes is when she is hungry or excited. Then she speeds it up (hink....hink...hink, hinkHINKHINKHINK) til she sounds like a Geiger counter."8O

So our kitten is has been named Geiger, or GiGi or little G for short. In our house Gary is Big G and now Kitty will be Little G. Since she spends most of her time sleeping on Gary it only make sense.

I will post pictures as soon as I figure out this new laptop.
I've always been a mac girl. But due to budgetary restrictions, I have had to finally go over to the "darkside". LOL Unfortunately, I did this with Windows 8... I've downloaded pictures to the laptop,but I can't find them, let alone POST them. As soon as I figure out where they are and HOW to attach them to a post on this site, I'll make sure to share.

*hugs*

Ms Michael


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

MsMichael said:


> I've always been a mac girl. But due to budgetary restrictions, I have had to finally go over to the "darkside".


NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Your pics are probably caught in some abort, retry, fail endless microsoft loop.


Clever name, Geiger.

p.s., Your background story was so sweet but sad. Nala was looking at me like "why you snifflin?"


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## Fran (Jan 9, 2008)

A beautiful soulful story - welcome to you and the new one, goodbye to the dearly loved! And, yes - photos please .

Fran


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## hunterseat (Feb 23, 2013)

What exceptionally long lives your cats have had! Little G (you're not, by any chance into rap?)  She's a lucky kitty!

Wasn't Mama Walton played by a Michael?  You might not know the show. I loved it.


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## MsMichael (May 11, 2013)

hunterseat said:


> What exceptionally long lives your cats have had! Little G (you're not, by any chance into rap?)  She's a lucky kitty!
> 
> Wasn't Mama Walton played by a Michael?  You might not know the show. I loved it.


Yes, Thankfully my pets have always lived to extreme age for their type (Dog, Cat, Horse, etc) and breed.

No. NO RAP in my house. We play Enya and other less annoying music in the house. Gary and I listen to the louder stuff in the car. I know that cats (and dogs) have very sensitive hearing. Therefore I do NOTHING loud and repetitive in the house. I live in small house,if its loud its loud all over, so my poor kitten has no way to get away from the noise. I try really hard not to stress my animals. While she's known as Little G, we mostly call her GiGi. She seems to like the sound...:cat3

Yes, Mother Walton was played by Ms Michael Learner.

I ended up with this name because of my father.;-) As the story is told, back in the day women stayed in the hospital after a birth for at least 3 days. Also, you couldn't take a baby out without a birth certificate, which meant the baby had to have a NAME. Anyway. My mom and grandma argued for days about what to name me (I was the first grandchild...or child period of my generation) On the 3rd day, my dad sick of the arguing,went to the records office and filled out a birth certificate for me. He used his favorite name... that's how I ended up with Michael


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