It with with a very sad heart that I write this email. Yesterday (Thursday) I lost a cherished member of my feline family to cancer: my one-eyed kitty Uno.
Uno had developed pain towards the end of January. We originally thought that it was bladder pain and treated him for urinary tract disease. He seemed to bounce back, but then the pain returned. I took him into work and had him re-evaluated and we determined that it was T-L back pain, which is not very common in cats. We thought maybe he had pulled a muscle, so we treated him with NSAIDS and acupuncture. It seemed to help at first and then the pain returned and worsened. I had a bad feeling, so I took Uno back into work to have him evaluated by one of our orthopedic surgeons. A neuro exam showed pain higher up this time and some weakness in the front legs. Spinal rads were unremarkable, so last Friday I had a CT scan of Uno's spine done at work. Sure enough, we found a mass at C-4 that had caused some bone destruction and was compressing the spinal cord. A surgical biopsy was not a good option, as it only would have told us what type of cancer we were dealing with, leaving Uno partially paralyzed in the process. I couldn't allow him to spend whatever time he had left like that. I took him home and increased his pain medication. Uno had a great weekend-he explored the house, sat on my lap, terrorized Sylvia :) and generally enjoyed being a cat, even though he couldn't jump very high.
After the weekend, Uno started to deteiorate. I kept increasing his pain meds to no avail. By yesterday morning, he was unable to get up to use the litterbox or eat (I was syringe feeding him). The compression caused by the mass was too great and it was only going to get worse, so I knew it was time to let him go. I called off work, then called a vet who does home euthanasias. She came out to the house, so Uno was able to cross over to the Rainbow Bridge in the comfort of his own home, surrounded by those he loved and those who loved him. We should all be so lucky.
Uno came to me shortly after my other one-eyed cat, Pirate died at 2 years of age from FIP. I wasn't looking for a cat, but was at the shelter helping out and was led to this tabby and white kitten with one eye, whom the shelter workers named "Pirate" after my little guy. Uno had a twin brother, "Sinbad," (with 2 eyes :) ) who was brought into the shelter with him. The kennel staff wanted to try and adopt the 2 out together. A week later, I came back and noticed a hold sign on Sinbad's paperwork, but not Uno's. I knew he was meant to be a part of my family. After I brought him home, I was looking over the shelter paperwork and discovered that Uno was brought into the shelter on the very same day that Pirate died: 4-29-99.
Uno was my lap cat, one of my "talkers." Often times Uno would meow at me and I would answer him back-we would have these "conversations" that would go on for several minutes (I'm sure if anybody witnessed that-they would wonder about my sanity ;) ). He also loved chasing his tortie sister, Sylvia because he could :) Just like all of my cats, Uno and I had a unique and special bond and he will be sorely missed within the herd and within my heart. But there is no doubt that my life has been enriched because he was a part of it for 9 years.
It's odd how the grieving process works. In some ways, I feel as though I've already done a good part of grieving seeing him go through this and being his "nurse." But I'm also grieving the sense of loss I feel not having him around. Even though I still have my "ten little Indians," the house seems so empty and I can feel the void.
Cherish every day you have with your pets; they are truly one of life's greatest gifts and no matter how much time you have with them, it is never enough.
Ellen 3/14/08
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