And then there were 13...

Good morning my friends! I'm at my Bridge mansion and I'm about ready to start exploring the place. I apologize for surprising you all with this news.

I've been very, very sick. I don't know if you all will remember this, but back at the end of December and into January I lost a lot of weight. I had a UTI, but the big issue was with my liver. I went on two types of antibiotics and a liver supplement. The UTI cleared up and I started gaining weight. Soon I went from 9 lbs. back to my regular weight of 13 lbs.

I was doing very well until a few weeks ago. I started losing weight and I was back down to 9 lbs. A full blood panel was done, and it showed that my liver was acting up again, but this time it was worse. I spent last week taking those two antibiotics again, but they weren't helping me at all. I spent most of my time either sleeping on the foot of the bed, or hiding under the bed. I stopped eating. I stopped drinking water. I didn't want to cuddle with mom either.

Mom made an appointment with my vet for 8:30 this morning. Last night I came into the living room and jumped onto the foot of the recliner. I laid across mom's legs and told her I was ready to go. Mom still wasn't 100% sure until she took me in to see Dr. Green this morning. I had lost more weight, and the whites of my eyes had a slight yellow tint. The lining of my ears were also yellow. Mom knew then that I was right.

Dr. Green gave me a shot of medicine so I would relax. Mom held me, and talked to me, and she cried into my fur. When Dr. Green came back, she helped me across the Bridge. Mom stroked my head and whispered how much she loved me.

Once I'm settled into my Mansion, I want to have the biggest party ever!

Purrs,
Johnny Cat


Mom Malinda here. It is never easy when we have to say farewell to one of our furbabies. I was truly hoping that Dr. Green and I could pull Johnny through this again. His liver had other ideas. I honestly thought I was going to lose him back in early January. Johnny was seen by the vet that was filling in for Dr. Green while she was out for the Christmas holiday. Johnny had blood work done and the vet said everything looked fine in the lab results. Johnny continued to lose weight so I took him back in to see Dr. Green. I told her the substitute vet said all was fine with his lab work. Dr. Green looked over the results and said it wasn't fine! The numbers showed that something was off with his liver function! I was furious; not with Dr. Green, but with the incompetent substitute vet! A secondary lab was ran and it confirmed the results of the first lab. Johnny pulled through that scare and I am so grateful that he was with me for another 9 months.

I don't think Johnny was in any pain, but his quality of life was slipping away. He still had enough strength to jump onto my bed, or walk into another room. But he was losing his ability/drive to be social. He never growled or hissed, but he spent the last couple of weeks wanting to sleep at on the foot of my bed, or hide under one of the beds. He had stopped eating and drinking. I gave him water with a syringe, and tried to syringe feed him with baby food.

Johnny and his brother were being surrendered because their guardians had lost their home. I happened to be at the right place at the right time, so they came home with me. It was an easy transition for them, but not for some of my other cats. Eventually the other cats learned to tolerate them, with the exception of Memphis Meezer. He wanted nothing to do with them.

My heart is heavy, but I know Johnny is at peace.