Forever Grateful and Forever Heartbroken

[Guest]

this thread makes me sad. sorry for your loss. 

 

I'm very close to my pet cat and I don't think it would ever get better if I lost him. Hang in there. 

[Second Base]

I wanted to try and cheer you guys up, I've got a story of my own, with a happy ending.  My wife and I have two cats, we adopted 7 years ago, both quite young at the time.  I was never raised with cats, and thus I never knew how to treat one.  So I raised one like a dog (the other one was just too much cat, so raising him as a dog was like swimming upstream).  This cat comes when called, plays tug of war, wrestles and greets everyone he comes in contact with. 

 

Well a couple months ago he went into hiding.  Would never come out, was losing weight and just looked haggardly.  This is my boy, in the prime of his life and he was on his death bed.  Ignoring the obvious cost, I rushed him up to the vet hospital on a Sunday.  They ran a series of tests that cost me $500 and were still nowhere clser to finding what was wrong.  I was heartbroken.  They wanted to keep him over night and started talking about euthanasia.  I'll be damned if I abandon my boy to sleep alone in a cage while so called "doctors" get needle-happy. So despite overwhelming pressure to keep him there, I said I'd take him home. 

 

I haven't cried in a decade.  It isn't how I was raised, and it just isn't me, until now I guess.  I brought him home that night and broke down with worry.  I've had to watch friends in uniform die, others senselessly killed in my former line of work.  It hit me hard, but they wouldn't have wanted me to cry, so I never did.  But watching this beautiful, unique son of mine whither away in my arms without anything I could do was too much.  It was like a decade of pent up sadness flowed through and out of me.  I mourned him before he was even gone. 

 

But I couldn't accept that.  I am a believer and I just don't think God wanted that for my family.  We laid hands on, we prayed, we did research and we just gave him every ounce of love we could possibly give. It was hours of holding him, syringe feeding him, giving him sub-q fluids, praying over him, even though the vet led us to believe that whatever this was, would require a biopsy, exploratory surgery, antibiotics and a feeding tube. I just didn't come into agreement with that, nor do I now.  

 

Anyway, here we are, a couple months later and he's sitting right here with me as I write this, shining just as bright as he ever has. I don't blame the vets for what they couldn't explain or what they wanted to do.  They're just trying to do what's best.  But regardless, my boy has a second chance at life, and I am one grateful man for it.  

[seenoevil]

Yes,I'm offering my condolences too.

[Cycled314]

I'm so sorry for your loss and like many others here I've been through it and know how you feel. 

 

It took us a couple years but we ended up getting another dog and this one is even more ingrained in my heart than our last one, I can't even leave her at a kennel.

 

Wishing you the best during this really tough time.

[IEAngelsfan]

Ettin, hang in there.

 

When my wife and I lost our first dog many years ago, it was such a devastating blow that she would not even entertain the thought of having another pet.  Well, 5 years later, we got another dog and he's still going strong.  Time heals all wounds.

 

BTW, great story Scotty.  I know that there those that don't agree, but I believe your praying had a lot to do with his recovery.

[Second Base]

Ettin, hang in there.

 

When my wife and I lost our first dog many years ago, it was such a devastating blow that she would not even entertain the thought of having another pet.  Well, 5 years later, we got another dog and he's still going strong.  Time heals all wounds.

 

BTW, great story Scotty.  I know that there those that don't agree, but I believe your praying had a lot to do with his recovery.

 

Oh I know God is responsible for his recovery.  Where could I have gotten the information and inspiration I needed?  Thanks. 

[ettin]

I wanted to try and cheer you guys up, I've got a story of my own, with a happy ending.  My wife and I have two cats, we adopted 7 years ago, both quite young at the time.  I was never raised with cats, and thus I never knew how to treat one.  So I raised one like a dog (the other one was just too much cat, so raising him as a dog was like swimming upstream).  This cat comes when called, plays tug of war, wrestles and greets everyone he comes in contact with. 

 

Well a couple months ago he went into hiding.  Would never come out, was losing weight and just looked haggardly.  This is my boy, in the prime of his life and he was on his death bed.  Ignoring the obvious cost, I rushed him up to the vet hospital on a Sunday.  They ran a series of tests that cost me $500 and were still nowhere clser to finding what was wrong.  I was heartbroken.  They wanted to keep him over night and started talking about euthanasia.  I'll be damned if I abandon my boy to sleep alone in a cage while so called "doctors" get needle-happy. So despite overwhelming pressure to keep him there, I said I'd take him home. 

 

I haven't cried in a decade.  It isn't how I was raised, and it just isn't me, until now I guess.  I brought him home that night and broke down with worry.  I've had to watch friends in uniform die, others senselessly killed in my former line of work.  It hit me hard, but they wouldn't have wanted me to cry, so I never did.  But watching this beautiful, unique son of mine whither away in my arms without anything I could do was too much.  It was like a decade of pent up sadness flowed through and out of me.  I mourned him before he was even gone. 

 

But I couldn't accept that.  I am a believer and I just don't think God wanted that for my family.  We laid hands on, we prayed, we did research and we just gave him every ounce of love we could possibly give. It was hours of holding him, syringe feeding him, giving him sub-q fluids, praying over him, even though the vet led us to believe that whatever this was, would require a biopsy, exploratory surgery, antibiotics and a feeding tube. I just didn't come into agreement with that, nor do I now.  

 

Anyway, here we are, a couple months later and he's sitting right here with me as I write this, shining just as bright as he ever has. I don't blame the vets for what they couldn't explain or what they wanted to do.  They're just trying to do what's best.  But regardless, my boy has a second chance at life, and I am one grateful man for it.  

 

I'm glad to hear that Scotty, truly.

 

For the record Tweety Bird was as good as dead about two years ago but we had a similar experience to you Scotty.

 

When we adopted Tweety and her sister/friend Bella, Tweety had one bad eye, a bent tail, virtually no/damaged teeth and a baseball sized hernia hanging from her vajay-jay area to the middle of her stomach.

 

She went into heat and near the end of it, because she wasn't fixed (and operating on her with the hernia was very dangerous), she developed a dangerous condition called pyrometra. Basically she was growing eggs in her uterus but they turned "bad" and developed an infection.

 

I remember that she got sick on a Monday and it got progressively worse. Wife took her in that Thursday and the vet told her she was very sick and that an operation was out of the question but he did give her an antibiotic shot. Next day we took her in for x-rays and to get her hydrated. Later the vet called us and told us she was bleeding and she wouldn't make it.

 

We ended up taking her home and prayed throughout the night. She was bleeding a lot and I thought there was no way she could lose that much and live. We spoon fed her chicken broth and a little bit of honey and used a plastic syringe to shoot water in her mouth. I even remember screaming at 5am in the morning to God why he'd do such a thing to such a small gentle creature. Apparently he heard me.

 

Long story short is that she ended up recovering fully to her original state. I think that the antibiotic shot helped her fight the infection and the hydration they did really made her natural pent up blood from her period "gush out" on Friday. The reason I say all of this is that the vet was wrong about the outcome just like in Scotty's case. The vet's do a lot of good things but they aren't fully versed in every single situation involving animals. Sometimes love and caring can go a long way.

 

As much as I'm upset that she's gone I have to thank God that he brought her to us in the first place. My wife was crying today and asking what she did that was so wrong that God took our baby away and I told her that God knew we were good people and that is why he gave her to us in the first place.

 

Thanks for sharing guys I appreciate all of the previous comments about Blackie and all of the new ones about Tweety Bird. My wife and I love our dogs so much and it is just really painful when they're gone. Sharing this helps and hearing back from you guys helps.