No Place Like Home

Today we thought Tibee would be coming home from the vet, but when Pookey went to pick him up just before noon Dr Hanks had to tell him that he couldn’t come home because she suspected that he had developed Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Having just gotten over Panleukopenia (Feline Distemper) his immune system was extremely weak, so he basically had no chance to survive this new disease.

Yesterday afternoon when I went to visit him I could tell that something was off, especially when he cried out in pain, and became weak, when he had a bowel movement, and urinated. Today when I visited him, after Pookey came home with the bad news, I could feel, at the very bottom of my soul, that we were going to lose him. Looking at him in my arms before I left I had a strong desire to tell Dr Hanks to euthanize him right then, and there, but I just could not let go of the last shred of hope I had that he would survive this new illness like he had survived the original one. That’s my one regret. I could have let him die in my arms, but I selfishly denied him that simply because I could not accept the fact that the FIP was going to kill him. The only salve to this heartache is that his death was most likely peaceful, as the people at Dr Hanks practice had seen him resting comfortably before they discovered he had passed away a short time later.

Tonight, after we had finished dinner we received a call with the news we knew was coming, but didn’t want to hear. My beloved cat Tibee had gone on to the Summerlands to be with all my other loved ones that have passed over. My heart aches, but I know we did all we could to save his life, sparing nothing in our attempt. His life force had been thoroughly depleted by the Panleukopenia, and he just did not have it in him to win another fight. He’ll be cremated, and we’ll be getting his ashes back sometime next week.

Goodbye my sweet boy, Tibee… I will always love you, and I’ll miss you until we meet again.

I went , and saw, Tibee today… I was so elated to see that his health is continuing to improve. He’s now standing easily on his own, keeping down solid food, and when I was holding him in my arms, petting him, he actually began to purr. I haven’t heard him purr since Thursday, and it was music to my ears.

I got a chance to meet Dr Hanks briefly, and my hopes that she’d do her utmost to help us save Tibee was definitely confirmed. It’s obvious that she has a great deal of compassion for her patients, as well as for their Human families. That’s something that the Vets at the emergency clinic lacked in spades. It was like they wanted us to just give up, and euthanize Tibee, without even attempting to try to save his life. We completely understood that Tibee was gravely ill, but we weren’t going to let him go without giving him a fighting chance. Thankfully we only had to deal with them for two days. I would have definitely transferred him to another veterinarian hospital if there was any other alternative, their attitude was that bad.

As animal owners, Pookey, and I, both feel that we have a responsibility to do our best to care for our cats, and that doesn’t change when it becomes expensive, or inconvenient. They’re our children in little cat suits, though I feel more strongly about this than Pookey does, but what do you expect, he’s a guy. lol.

One of his biggest problems right now is that the inside of Tibee’s mouth hurts from sores he developed in it, and thankfully Dr Hanks started him on medication to aid in healing them as soon as she took over his care. Once that’s under control he’ll be able to start eating on his own, and won’t have to be force fed. I was able to feed him some, as well as being able to entirely clean the fur around his mouth that was caked with dried saliva. He complained some, but I think he was happy that his mouth was finally clean after being icky for so long. The only downside to my visit was when I had to leave. *sighs sadly* I miss my boy, and can’t wait for him to finally come home.