I have to admit that this year hasn't started out as well as I would have hoped. Gene's still in-between games at work. For months now, we've waited ever so patiently for good news on this front. Then we had to make the decision to put our cat, Audrey, to sleep, after a couple months illness. And to top it all off, Esther has been sick all week, coughing tons and waking herself up at night.
So like I said, here's hoping the rest of the year improves.
Little Audrey was almost 13 years old and although her person-ality was pretty meek and mild, she was a sweet cat. Poor darling was throwing up several times daily, losing weight and not eating. The vet found she was hyperthyroid, had a high white cell count, and roundworms. She prescribed two pills, one for the thyroid and a steroid to make her eat. Two pills twice a day...yeah, cats LOVE pills. She started eating a lot but wouldn't keep it down for long. She wasn't getting any better. She seemed to be in agony and we couldn't watch her suffer anymore. Did we do the right thing, should we have waited longer? These are questions I'm struggling with. But I know this is the price we must pay for having pets in our lives. I was there with her to the end and am glad about that. So, adieu sweet Audrey.
How do you explain to an almost 4 year old why our cat didn't come back from the vet? Well, with honesty and brevity. We told her Audrey died, plain and simple. She was old and her body was giving out. We didn't want to say we put her to sleep, because we didn't want Esther to be afraid of sleeping. We didn't want to say she was sick and it was her time, because Esther is sick right now and might think her time was next. So far Esther doesn't seem to fazed by it, so that's good. In fact she enjoyed playing in the cat carrier for a few days.
On a positive note, our family is happy and mostly healthy. Our girl is silly and funny and such a joy.
"Helping" mom clean out the fridge.
Avoiding eating.
