Stephanie Bortmas

First Time Foster Fail

Three years, we lost our beloved cat of 8 years. My husband had rescued her as a kitten after he found her sick and dying on a golf course. She became his best friend and saw him through a difficult time in his life before we were married. Every year we take a week vacation to Florida and have family feed her and care for her. She was always fine but one year she wasn't. For whatever reason, she stopped eating when we left. We didn't realize she was eating so little until we came home and noticed how lethargic and miserable she was. She had always been a cantankerous and fiesty cat, so this was a huge change. When we took her to the vet, they said she had liver disease and would need to be hand fed and given IV fluids to save her. The vet shared it was alot of work and warned us it would be very time consuming and diffcult to feed her. We felt totally up to the task, as we loved her and were certain we could nurse her back to health. The vet wasn't kidding! Every feeding and IV treatment was brutal. She meowed in in agony and fought us every step of the way. 6 days into the treatment, we woke up one morning and couldn't find her in her usual spot. My husband found her in the shower moaning in agony. She started to seize and we think she had lost her vision as she stared mindlessly into space. We waited for the vet to open and took her right in. The vet sadly told us there was no hope and we had to put her down. We felt devastated.... Not only to lose her but that she had been suffering for 6 days. We thought we were doing the right thing trying to save her but to this day, both my husband and I feel awful about prolonging her pain. In addition, we felt guilty for leaving and couldn't figure out why this particular year, she stopped eating and reacted so poorly to our abscence. This was one of the few times in my life, I have seen my strong and easy going husband break down in tears. She was there for him when she needed him. She was his best friend when he and I were on the rocks. She brought him so much joy and he had saved her and she had saved him. It was heartbreaking.