After my last update about our sick cat Rosie its not good news :( I last posted last Tuesday the 29th and sorry for the delay in posting an update, I kept thinking about how to write this out and word it.

We left her at home and did not really want to take her back to the vets. She would not eat anything and no one could get her to eat anything at all and we tried every variation of food, hot and cold :( The only thing the vet said is that she could go back to the vets and be on a feeding drip again and literally force feed her.

She died on Thursday the 1st of December at about 11pm. I actually felt a sense of relief when we found her dead under my bed :( She did not eat anything at all since the Monday we got her out of the vets. According to internet advice I looked up online it said that a healthy small thin cat can last about 24 hours without any food and large cats can last about 48 hours. She was not a big cat, but lasted from Monday evening till Thursday! I find that amazing, but she refused to eat and save herself! I found it very distressing last week and was very upset and I started getting iller and iller from the stress :(

I know some friends of mine on here have lost loved ones to illnesses that involve slow deaths and not eating etc and I really really feel for them now. Its horrid watching her slowly waste away and get weaker and weaker and there is nothing you can do! I kept thinking she wont be here tomorrow and I was thinking on Thursday how long can she last! I think I realised she was going to die the weekend she was at the vets before we got her home. She just had something majorly wrong with her and she knew it.

On the Thursday I had this really weird like feeling or freedom and relief. It was very stressful and she was constantly on my bed or under it the whole time. I feel more depressed now but she died at home and she was happy on my bed. Rather than in the vets. We were planning what should we do on the friday or weekend (last weekend) if she is still alive. She was not uncomfortable or in pain that we know of, but she cannot live like this forever and I am so glad we didn't have to make decisions to put her to sleep. I think we would have, if it went on any further.

I was really worried about her starving to death and if it was really painful, but the vet said that cats will tell you if they are in pain and will make sounds. If she was in real pain we could call the vet out, but she never was and I am glad.

The vets bill came to a total of around £500 ($871 US) but she could not live on a tube forever. Its amazing how she suddenly had really bad health. Apparently it was all to do with the heart and heart disease :(

It was not as shocking as our old dogs death and he died at the end of 7 from a really similar thing! But its sad we are left with her daughter and the dog. She will be missed especially as she lived constantly in my bedroom driving me insane!

The biggest irony of all is that when she was 1 years old in our house, she have kittens under my bed in this room (which was then my bedroom and now is a computer / spare / junk room), she had 4 kittens and died under my bed in the bedroom I am in now in the attic. I will miss her, but she is better now :)

old pic of her sleeping on my bed, taken by Rich

Tags: pets, rosie the cat
Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Deee-Lite - Somebody

After my post before which is linked right here, I shall write more about Rosie. Its a long post, so if you don't want to read it than that's fine.

Wednesday 23rd
Following on from my last post, I was waiting for my mother to come and then take her off to the vets. But as I waited she seemed to worsen and her breathing was getting wheezy and she was almost blowing bubbles when she breathed. Also she kept miaowing and it was really horrid situation alone! It was a long wait from about 5pm to 6:30pm when my mum was home. It was a really complicated evening because a decorator was coming to look at our house for re-painting all the hallways and so I had to stay at home and my mum went off the vet with her.

The vet kept Rosie in. The vet was not sure what was wrong with her but it could be not too bad and like an infection or virus. She is a small cat and she has been affected badly before years ago by one. But in the worst case it could be an organ failure internally :( She said she would take her in and try to get her stabilised on a drip and on a heated pad, because she was very cold. It was a bit touch and go.

Thursday 24th

The news was not all that positive but by the end of the day she had made some improvement! She had blood tests done and they all seemed fine, except from a very high glucose level. She thought it might be diabetes, but there was no glucose in the urine, so she did not have diabetes, and this can be caused by being under stress. When she came in she was breathing under stress and her heart was under stress. The X-rays that were done found she had some water in her lungs and around them. This was not a good thing. The plan is to keep stabilising her and give her medicine to clear her up

Friday 25th

The vet thinks its all done to her heart. All other organs are working fine. Her heart is enlarged and could have caused all the problems. She is given heart medicine. She has improved a bit.

Saturday 26th

She is better but can only be fed by a nurse with a syringe container plastic bit. She cannot eat for herself. Me and my Mum go and visit her at about 6pm, and my father is away in Germany. She was on a drip.

Rosie at the vets on a drip


another pic on the drip, and ignoring food :(

She looks really ill and miserable in those pics but actually she wasn't. When we got there she was miaowing a lot and then sort of laid down. She was still on a drip and would not eat any food offered!

Sunday 27th

Not really much happened that day but my parents have been driving me insane. They keep worrying about the cost of it all. We are not a poor family, we are not really rich either, we are middle class, but we have enough money to pay it. I was a bit worried myself how much it would be, because boarding overnight is expensive! But I think you have to pay and give her a chance. The question was how much longer should this go on? My mum decided that Monday was decision night!

Monday 28th

My Mum or I spoke to the vet on the phone each day and in the morning my mother spoke to her. She said she had tried everything really and maybe its worth trying to take her home. We went to get her in the evening. She is much better than when she went in on that Wednesday night. She is on heart medicine and its not thumping in her body and also she is no longer cold, which was caused by the heart. She was breathing okay and all water in the lungs was gone. Rosie was driving the vet insane, she had tried everything and still would not eat and she should be okay now! She even bite a nurse trying to feed her by hand! I thought she must be improved! lol

We took her home and she still had problems walking, she was really not a well cat. The vet had got everything improved but she still would not eat anything on her own. There is no point in keeping her alive if she cannot eat, its not good quality of life! So it was to see if she would eat at home. Also she would be more comfortable there and with people who loved her and knew her etc. Later on that evening she went on my bed, where she normally sleeps. Unlike before where she was always stretched out she curled up again, which was good I thought!

Tuesday 29th

So this is today, or yesterday now as its early Weds morning. She just constantly sleeps on my bed really. She does not seem to be in pain or anything or crying or anything but she will not eat anything. The vet tried every type of food on her and we have left a bowl. The vet said to give her 48 hours and then get back to her.

I guess we talk to the vet again tomorrow but I am not sure what to do from here. She is not living her normal life on my bed. She is sleeping but how long can a cat survive without any food or nutrition? I think its a way of telling us that maybe its time. I am just worried about her starving to death and is it horrid. So I don't know if she will just fall asleep or if we have to take her to the vets again. Its a really weird situation. I guess she is better than before but not living a normal life and cannot survive like she is.

Here is some photos of today, on my bed...

lying on my bed, not asleep, perked up!


Rosie ignoring all food still :(



Rosie wrapped with a blanket to keep her warm


I am not very positive about the situation :(
Anyway I am off to bed, more updates as they happen!

I am addicted to my LJ Scrapbook to put photos in! You can click any of the pics on this page to see a bigger one or see the whole gallery with some other pics right here

Tags: pets, rosie the cat
Current Mood: sad

Trying to post a pic direct from my mobile again! Went to visit Rosie at the vet today and its not looking good :(

I will give an update tomorrow about her but I found this photo of her on my phone when she was well and annoying me in bed on the 21/11/05:-




omg it posted okay! :)

Tags: pets, pictures posted, posted from my mobile, rosie the cat
Current Mood: okay

My mobile pics post didn't work :( I will try it again after I have read through the instructions thoroughly. I think you have to upload a pic and start your lj scrapbook section of picture storage going and then when you send any pics remotely they are stored there!

Those of you who don't know, we have 3 pets living in the house (plus fish in a pond). Seamus the dog who is nearly 2, Rosie the cat who is 13 next April and her daughter cat Millie who is 11 currently. They are quite senior cats. The oldest my parents have ever had a cat for is 13 years so far on a cat they had when I was a child. I am always very worried about finding Rosie dead somewhere. Although she has a perfect bill of health when she is given an annual examination. Also they always say that dogs just go to sleep and pass away and cats live on and on and fight and go through cancers and horrid illnesses and keep fighting. We can say we have experienced that in the past!

Anyway Rosie has not been well the last couple of days. She mostly sleeps in my room and on my bed or under it. However she has been there constantly and hardly moved at all. She has this long position stretched out, and she normally sleeps curled up a ball :(

Here is some pics of her in her stretched out position...
(they were taken by my phone cam at night, and thus went weirdly blue!)





She has this weird totally stretched out position and her claws seem to keep getting stuck in the bed :( Also when she does get up she has very bad co-ordination and she is not eating and hardly drinking! I am deeply concerned!

Anyway she is going to the vet tonight and hopefully she will be okay! I have thought about every condition for her, is it this or this and really I have no idea! although today I wonder if its a mobility injury, like she has hurt her back and is in pain. So its about 3 hours to the vets and I keep hearing her crying out miaowing :(

Hopefully she is totally fine and its just something not to bad.

I decided if I ever move out I don't want any pets. As much as I love them, they are so stressful and you have to do all the vet stuff and medical payments. or is that just really selfish! i love animals but 4 people in this household have difficultly with all of ours! lol

I shall post more, in the words of Rusty from the block ho hum.

Tags: pets, rosie the cat