I love you and goodbye

This post will be placed in our Catsville section.

With a heavy heart we said goodbye to our little Itty Bitty this week. He was strong cat and tried hard to keep going but with the heart disease that we found out he had, along with anemia, pleural effusion, ascities, tumor, leukemia, lungs were bleeding and blood clots which at the end paralyzed his legs .... the suffering had to stop and we sadly had to put him to sleep.

Our only regret was..... 5 months ago he was sink and was put in the hospital for 3 days. The vet said she didn't know what made him sick but they gave him antibiotics and fluids and after 3 days sent him home. We came home and he didn't act sick any more at all. He was active, playing, eating like a pig, no weight loss at all and I had no idea there was unknown problems.

Then, 3 weeks ago the little man got sick again so I took him back to the vet. This time they did a leukemia test. I said.... you mean to tell me you didn't do any tests for him 5 months ago when I brought him in????

The test came back positive which didn't surprise me because when he was 6 to 8 weeks old the test said he had leukemia and that was 7 years ago. But was never sick from it. This vet gave NO other suggestion for his health care. Just sent him home and said since he has leukemia we can give him a B12 shot if you want to bring him back to get one later. That a once a month shot was good. NO mention at all about any other problems he needed help with. We came home and he didn't act sick at all. He was active, eating like a pig, no weight loss at all and I had no idea there was problems unknown.

We came home and for 3 days he just didn't seem himself
We were not satisfied with his care. Something just didn't seem right so we decided to take him to a holistic vet and get some acupuncture to help him feel better. He did fantastic with the acupuncture. He didn't mind the little needles up his back at all and she even stuck one on his nose. We told her that we had a feeling that something else might be wrong....She suggested a vet for us to take him too. The acupuncture made him feel soooo much better for that 1 day.

The New Vet
Come to find out... the leukemia wasn't the problem of concern.  The problem was he had heart disease plus others things that didn't relate to the leukemia that he needed medicine for. The new vet told us that all those problems would of showed up on the tests 5 months ago if the previous vet had actually ran the test and read it. We were in shock because we are big on the care of our animals and were just sick to find out the problems that our little guy had to of been going through for months and months with no treatment. That these problems were probably what activated the leukemia into play. There is no cure for Leukemia and we knew this would eventually kill him but the other problems could of been treated and his quality of life could of been much better if we had known.

We will never go back to the 1st vet ever again. 
In fact we were so sick about the lack of care that we contacted the BBB and put in a notice. The new vet was very thural in him care and keep us informed every step. Once Itty Bitty had the 2 blood clots which paralyzed his back legs and one clot was sitting on his spine. This all happened within 2 weeks and we were in shock. The new vet had tell us there was nothing more could be done. We knew we had to end his suffering and had no choice but to say goodbye. Stephen & I both held him as he was put to sleep.

We spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying and praying for him as if he was a child. He had always been special to us even from birth. He didn't open his eyes for 3 weeks after he was born which is unusual. He had a concave chest which means his rib cage was spread apart. We gave him lots of attention ever since birth. He as a special pet and we love him and will miss him dearly. He was the leader of the pack in our house and made his cat family follow the rules. lol- He was so much fun to watch play and a joy to have as a pet. We will forever have a empty place in our heart for him and forever regret the lack of care that he received.
Pam