I haven't posted in a while. Over the past several months my wife and I have been caring for a sick family member.
Before Mackie arrived in our home 13 years ago, he had been abandoned at a McDonalds as a kitten. He was taken in by a young woman who kept him for a year but had to find a home for him when she was unable to keep him in the apartment she lived in. His next home was with a family who lived behind us in our old neighborhood. I remember going over to visit now and then and would see him hiding under the tv or sofa. They had two young kids that would terrorize him constantly so he would hide. In the evenings, when the kids went to bed, sometimes we would be over and he would come over to check us out and he would sit next to me. They thought it odd because they didn't think him to be social. But he seemed to like me.
After almost a year, the husband lost his job and was going to take his family back to Ohio.They didn't know where they were going really or where they would stay so they sold the house and decided that maybe the best place for Mackie wasn't with them. They asked me if I was interested in taking him since he seemed to like us and we said yes having lost our own cat more than a year before.
From the moment he was brought into the house, he just seemed plain grateful. He purred the rest of the night and never hid on us at all. He would sit next to me at every opportunity and would give equal time to my wife and daughter during the day when I wasn't home. He never clawed anything except the post I made and was possibly the friendliest cat I ever met.
Last September I began to notice one week that he wasn't eating his usual amounts of food and was drinking more than usual. I took him to the vet to be checked out and tests showed that he was suffering from chronic renal failure. His kidneys were deteriorating in function and it was terminal. We researched on the internet and worked with the vet to try and make his months as comfortable as we could and maybe even prolong his life with quality by dietary means and subcutaneous fluid injections to restore his fluid balance and help his severe dehydration. He tolerated this very well and he was nearly his old self through November. Every night before bed we would have him on my lap while I would find the best spot on his back to introduce Lactated Ringers under his skin. It would ake about 10 - 15 minutes and it rejuvenated him for the next 24 hours. Every weekend we would have him to the vet to check his status and he was holding his own. He slept with me every night.
The week before Christmas he seemed to take a turn for the worse. He just wasn't himself, hiding and not wanting to eat. He had lost weight during the previous months but on Friday morning, I was giving him his daily pill and he felt full and heavy. I had to go to work but had him taken to the vet to see what was going on. He had to be left for tests. Later in the day, we got the call that his kidneys had completely stopped functioning sometime during the week probably and it was a matter of hour before he would succumb to the failure. He as full of fluid and his breathing was weakening. That evening, we went to the vet to visit with him for the last time before he was put to sleep. We felt it best to keep him from suffering any more. He purred as I held him and it was truly the hardest thing I ever had to do. I won't be over it for a long time. I miss him terribly.
I did this sketch as a tribute to my friend. It was from a photo taken in December about 2 weeks before he left us.
View attachment mackie-sketch_b&wr.jpg
Before Mackie arrived in our home 13 years ago, he had been abandoned at a McDonalds as a kitten. He was taken in by a young woman who kept him for a year but had to find a home for him when she was unable to keep him in the apartment she lived in. His next home was with a family who lived behind us in our old neighborhood. I remember going over to visit now and then and would see him hiding under the tv or sofa. They had two young kids that would terrorize him constantly so he would hide. In the evenings, when the kids went to bed, sometimes we would be over and he would come over to check us out and he would sit next to me. They thought it odd because they didn't think him to be social. But he seemed to like me.
After almost a year, the husband lost his job and was going to take his family back to Ohio.They didn't know where they were going really or where they would stay so they sold the house and decided that maybe the best place for Mackie wasn't with them. They asked me if I was interested in taking him since he seemed to like us and we said yes having lost our own cat more than a year before.
From the moment he was brought into the house, he just seemed plain grateful. He purred the rest of the night and never hid on us at all. He would sit next to me at every opportunity and would give equal time to my wife and daughter during the day when I wasn't home. He never clawed anything except the post I made and was possibly the friendliest cat I ever met.
Last September I began to notice one week that he wasn't eating his usual amounts of food and was drinking more than usual. I took him to the vet to be checked out and tests showed that he was suffering from chronic renal failure. His kidneys were deteriorating in function and it was terminal. We researched on the internet and worked with the vet to try and make his months as comfortable as we could and maybe even prolong his life with quality by dietary means and subcutaneous fluid injections to restore his fluid balance and help his severe dehydration. He tolerated this very well and he was nearly his old self through November. Every night before bed we would have him on my lap while I would find the best spot on his back to introduce Lactated Ringers under his skin. It would ake about 10 - 15 minutes and it rejuvenated him for the next 24 hours. Every weekend we would have him to the vet to check his status and he was holding his own. He slept with me every night.
The week before Christmas he seemed to take a turn for the worse. He just wasn't himself, hiding and not wanting to eat. He had lost weight during the previous months but on Friday morning, I was giving him his daily pill and he felt full and heavy. I had to go to work but had him taken to the vet to see what was going on. He had to be left for tests. Later in the day, we got the call that his kidneys had completely stopped functioning sometime during the week probably and it was a matter of hour before he would succumb to the failure. He as full of fluid and his breathing was weakening. That evening, we went to the vet to visit with him for the last time before he was put to sleep. We felt it best to keep him from suffering any more. He purred as I held him and it was truly the hardest thing I ever had to do. I won't be over it for a long time. I miss him terribly.
I did this sketch as a tribute to my friend. It was from a photo taken in December about 2 weeks before he left us.
View attachment mackie-sketch_b&wr.jpg
