and took a part of me with her
Our senior cat passed away Friday at age 15. Our regular vet ruled out diabetes, but they could never figure out what was ailing our sweet Snoops. After several years of concern, we needed another opinion; sadly that came too late.
Snoops was losing weight and looked terrible. She was not able to jump without falling - bad news for a cat. We took her to a specialist in our area for a second opinion. They did many blood tests and ruled out hyperthyroid. They still could not explain why she was losing weight and losing fur. One of her eyes was squinting and going bad too.
We took her back to our regular vet. Based on her symptoms of weight loss and an enlarged thyroid, the vet thought maybe she did indeed have hyperthyroid. The veterinarian prescribed her medication to treat hyperthyroid even though she did not have elevated thyroid hormones T3 or T4. This made her sickness even worse.
Her lab work also revealed that her kidneys were beginning to fail - stage 2; our regular vet did not mention that fact to us. We didn't learn about that until we asked yet a third veterinarian for another opinion after forwarding the new vet the cat's lab results.
The new vet recommended surgery to get samples to biopsy. Could it be lymphoma or inflammatory bowel disease? This vet finally gave us her diagnosis. Our sweet girl had so many problems. In addition to two herniated disks in her back, she had an aggressive type of lymphoma AND inflammatory bowel disease. My gosh, our poor girl was doomed.
This past week, Snoops snuggled in my arms and curled her paws around my fingers. After her surgery, we let her sleep in a cage so she would not get hurt trying to move too much. She cried in the morning for me to pick her up.
I wrapped her in a towel and hugged her like a baby. She rested her head on my chest and dosed off from weakness. She could barely eat; we think that perhaps the cancer spread to her brain affecting her eyes, mouth and legs.
Our sweet Snoops now rests in peace. The day we took her, the vet asked us if we were ready... we weren't, but Snoops most certainly was. We are so grateful for the skilled veterinarian, Jennifer Cromwell VMD, U of Penn graduate, and staff, who were able to finally give us her diagnosis. Special thanks to our friend, Ricki, who recommended Animal and Bird Healthcare Center in Cherry Hill; we can't thank you enough.
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