Miss Kitty ?? - 3/4/2013

Plus one

It looks like Miss Kitty is riding in a basket.

Today is the first day without Miss Kitty.  Patti and I slept very poorly, there was a lot of tossing and turning.  As with most days I woke up early without Patti.  Normally this is very fun for the cat and she takes about 20 minutes from me with demanding pets and attention.  Needless to say I got out of the house early enough that a co-worker commented on it and I rode my bicycle to work today.

The house is so empty and quiet.  I don't know how a nine pound cat can fill a space so well but she did.  I worked from home today and it was weird to not have the kitty moving around and demanding pets.  I got a lot done but who cares about that.

We have cat beds and nests all over the house.  I broke down while touching one today.  Miss Kitty's burnt waffle smell is gone from all of them.  I don't know where that came from but it was very unique.  

I made a pact with myself to not play video games until Miss Kitty was gone, but I don't even want to now.  

We have been cleaning out some of her stuff and making a small area for the rest.  The cat tower is on craigslist for free and so is her litter box cabinet.  We have her basket, some hair and a couple toys.  We will also will keep her food dish when we unpack it.

I ordered a nice album of pictures of Miss Kitty from shutterfly, they have a great setup.  I also got a few pictures for frames.  I could use them at work and at home.

Well that is today.

Saying goodbye

She was a queen

happy endings euthanasia came out to the house and made the goodbye process so much easier.  I told Dr. Fixler what was going on with Miss Kitty.  After that was done, he told me about the process.  Miss Kitty was on a sleeping bag and she hasn't been feeling good all day.  He got out the sedative and Patti kept the front of Miss Kitty busy.  We waited a few minutes and Miss Kitty started to let her head sink to the sleeping bag.  She hasn't really put her head down all day, so it was nice to see her relax.

We turned her on her side and she was breathing nice and slowly.  Dr. Fixler started the next phase by shaving her arm and putting in the IV.  He put a pad to catch any fluids from Miss Kitty.  She didn't even flinch during this process.  He told us that we could give her the shot anytime now.  We didn't want her to hurt anymore so we said to do it.

He explained that Miss Kitty might have some extra breaths or other involuntary reactions.  She didn't end up having those things.  Dr. Fixler gave her the big shot and she stopped breathing within 10 seconds.  Next Dr. Fixler and his assistant gave us a couple minutes alone to say goodbye.  This was a very teary 5 minutes.  We both sad goodbye and told her she was the best kitty.




They came back into the house and he laid out the towel and told us what was going to happen next.  He wrapped up the towel nicely and removed the wrinkles.  It was super nice.  They took our baby and headed for the door.

Patti and I held each other crying for a few minutes.

Miss Kitty
?? - 3/4/2013

The Last

I think this is one of my favorite pictures of me and Miss Kitty.

I can't help but think of all the lasts today.  This is the last time she will wake up, her last nap, her last meow, the last time I will see her and the last time I will hold her. 

Kitty has no idea.  Her mouth hurts so she doesn't want to be pet, but she doesn't know that this is the last day for her on Earth. 

Scheduling the appointment

This might be the last picture I take of my kitty.  There is a dog in the yard next door and kitty likes to keep an eye on it.

We woke up today and Miss Kitty had more blood on her chin.  More importantly she didn't want to be pet at all.  She meowed each time and tried to avoid it.  She didn't eat that much last night and she hasn't touched the fresh can from this morning.

I spent a couple hours with her outside, she wouldn't let me near but I sat outside with her.

I called the at home euthanasia this morning at 9am and left a message.  They called me back and she went over the process and costs.  We scheduled it for 4pm.  I scheduled the death of my cat at 4pm.  I scheduled the last time I will hear her meow at 4pm.  I scheduled the end of her mouth pain at 4pm.

She complains when I pet her now, almost each time.  I have stopped so that I don't upset her.  

Just a few drops

Today Miss Kitty came in from the backyard, and looked at me from across the room.  I could see that she had blood on her chin from 20ft.  She didn't seem to be in pain, so we put her up on the cat tower for a closer inspection.  There wasn't a noticeable ulcer or cut.  She might have ruptured the skin with her back claw.  We got a paper towel wet and cleaned the area.  She didn't go out of her way to avoid it.

The rest of the day was spent doting over the cat.  We pet her and gave her brush time and everything else we could think of.  I sent a quick email to our doctor and we worried the day away.  She didn't have any more issues and we asked for an appointment in 2 days.

We are hoping for more time, we haven't had long enough with this bad kitty. 

Valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day to my two ladies.  Patti eventually picked up the cat and got a nice picture.  Miss Kitty can't be bothered to look at the camera.  She really doesn't like her Friskies anymore, she loves that Merricks food.  We are waiting for a shipment from the internet, but it is taking its sweet time.

We hope that she is just being picky and that her jaw isn't hurting already.

Palliadia day 1

Yesterday we started Miss Kitty on Pallidia.  It is a small pill that we give to the kitty every other day.  Following the doctor's advice we wrapped Miss Kitty in a blanket with her head sticking out.  Then Patti cradled her like a baby, Miss Kitty was not impressed.  There was a lot of anger and vocalization but she is all talk.  I had the pill ready in a pill gun and I tried to put the pill in the back of her throat.  She fought enough that I didn't push the pill into her mouth.  We regrouped and tried again, this time I just tried to get it in the back area and I pushed it out.  She immediately swallowed the pill.  Then we gave her catnip.

I hope that goes better next time. 

Birthday #1

Miss Kitty skewed our world.

We met with the Oncologist from Southwest Veterinary Services yesterday.  She was fantastic.  They did a little review of Miss Kitty's health and checked her mouth.  The tooth removal and gum work is healing nicely, she was very impressed.  With that out of the way she laid out our options with prices and didn't offer any pressure.  It was a good experience.  We could spend 4-6k on 3 seperate treatments, all of which don't add much to her life span.  This cancer is just too aggressive and it doesn't respond to treatment.  The best option only had a 10% chance to survive 1 year and SCC was going to kill Miss Kitty.  It doesn't spread from the mouth very easily, it just makes eating, drinking and cleaning too painful.  We aren't going to put her through that pain or the pain of surgery.  We have some pain medication and we are going to watch her eating.  The doctor said that the truly hard part is that it will still be our kitty at the end.  She will still love and act the same but she won't be able to eat or drink.

One thing that stuck out in the interview is that it is now Miss Kitty's birthday every day.  She can eat anything she wants, including treats like ice cream and treats.  We don't have to worry about obesity or any other issues anymore.  We headed out to Petco and bought kitty a new wand with feather, replace feather, laser pointer, merrick's BG food and some pounce treats.  Kitty has no interest in pounce at all.  She ate the first can of tuna cat food in one sitting.  She loves it.  The laser pointer is funny because kitty follows it around at a very slow pace and tries to sniff it.  She never tries to grab it.  The feather is the big winner, kitty loves catching birds and this feather is pretty close.  It is a hard feather toy that spins in the air.  She was making some moves for it.

It wasn't a bad birthday.

Sleeping with Miss Kitty

Sleeping with Miss Kitty is very interesting.  She loves to spoon, but under her rules.  She wants you to lift up the covers and not to crowd her.  Patti does this better then I do.  I have woken up many times from the cat's abrupt departure, when I was rolling over.

Last night Miss Kitty and Patti fell asleep while I was reading, that is a pretty normal night for us.  I like falling asleep with the cat staring at me.  She uses pillows and loves the blankets.

Sometime in the early am she wanted to sleep with me.  She makes this known by sitting near my head and facing the covers.  If I don't lift up the sheets, then she will paw them.  If that still doesn't wake me up, then she will put a paw on my face.  If that still doesn't wake me up then she will pull on my beard.  I lifted up the covers and she went in and sat down facing me.  This typically means she wants to be pet.  I love that this happens at 4am.  I pet her a bit and she left the covers and dove under again.  This time she laid against me.  It seems that Miss Kitty had just ate some food, because her breath was very fishy.  We were both sharing the same pillow and her neck was in my mouth.  Kitty usually uses this tactic to steal my pillow, but today we just lay there for awhile. 

Where to begin

This is my first blog, so please forgive any issues.  My name is Dave and I am married to Patti and we have a cat named Miss Kitty.  She is a fantastic older cat with her own style.  As you can see she is an action star, but she also loves to cuddle.  She will sit on anyone's lap and not feel the least bit guilty about it.

Unfortunately this blog isn't all fun and games.  On 2/13/2013 we took Miss Kitty to have her teeth cleaned and to remove a bad tooth.  It looked like it was broken off.  That is really weird because Miss Kitty eats soft pate exclusively.  When the vet pulled the tooth, some extra "stuff" came out too.  He took a sample from the material and the bone.  These samples were shipped off to a local lab.  We waited for news.

We took her back for the follow up visit earlier then normal and the vet gave us the bad news.  Miss Kitty has SCC in her lower jaw.  He recommended that we see a local Oncology specialist and gave us two names.  I called the first one but they didn't have an appointment for almost 3 weeks.  This is a fast moving cancer so we couldn't wait that long.  Luckily Southwest Veterinary Oncology could get her in on 2/11/2013.

I called my Mother, because we share the same outlook on pets.  We really love them with all our hearts and that is what makes the end so painful.  It was a nice talk and it made me feel much better.  Then I went out for a bike ride.  My step dad Don gave me a call and he shared a few stories about his lost pets.  It was nice to talk about it some more.

Now I have talked to our friend Koren, who went through a similar issue with her cat.  Oscar was 8 years old when diagnosed with SCC but in the upper jaw.  That one is very hard to do anything about.  He died on her lap in her home.

I also reached out to a vet friend.  He was very nice and told me to listen to all the information but not to feel pressured to "do something" about the cancer.  A mandibulectomy is very intense and it can lower the quality of the cats life.  Right now Miss Kitty doesn't know that anything is wrong with her, she is acting completely normal.  I really don't want to cut her jaw off and fill her full of painful drugs if we can't have a great outcome.  She doesn't deserve the torture.  That being said, if the Oncologist says that this is a small tumor and we have pretty good chances I think we might go for it.

It won't be an easy decision.