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19 year old cat died in my arms


katibk314

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I've had my cat Oreo since I was 10 years old. I'll be turning 29 on Thanksgiving this year. Since I had him for so long I loved him way more than just as a pet.

Anytime something bad happened I went to him. He was always by my side whenever I was sick. He would choose me over anyone else. He was the most important love in my life. He had started to lose weight and pee everywhere so i knew something was wrong. Vets were shocked that his age wasn't his problem. He got Hyperthyroidism and then started having kidney issues.

He was given medine and he got a little better till the other day when he couldn't walk.

I was moving so he stayed with my sister for a few days and she told me he can't walk and won't eat. So i took him home and tried to feed him since he always ate for me. I got home and he refused any food or water and wouldn't look at me. I bust out in tears knowing those were signs your pet could be going. He looked so tired so after begging him to eat I just laid on the floor with him. I called a vet near by to see if i could bring him in for an emergency check up. I waited for my dad to pick me up. While waiting I cried so loud and hysterically. He would reach out his paw for my hand and curl it so I couldn't let him go.

We got to the vet and he had gotten down to 3.9 lbs and his temp was only 96. They said it should be around 103 or 104. They sent us home with some iv fluid to give him. Got back home and just sat in a chair and bundled him up and just loved on him. He started to get up and down and was having problems breathing. I realized he was gasping for air. Then I saw his eyes and swore they were empty. I lost it then.

I knew he was going and I couldn't breathe. I was making myself lightheaded and shaking and bursting with tears. My dad and sister tired to take him and I said no don't touch him, I won't let him go. They made a little bed for him on the floor and I laid with him. Each time a tear fell down he would put his paw on my mouh as if a sign to not cry for him. Then he put his paw in my hand and squeezed my hand again. His breathing slowed, and he started shiver. I put more blankets on to warm him. Lastly he twitched a few times and then he was gone.

I get that people say I'm lucky to be with him at that moment and I agree, but they also don't know how much that killed me inside. When I was 17 I watched my mom die at home by a pulmonary embolism. She was here and gone in 5mins. That is a day I remember perfectly and now I have another day I'll never forget. I lost 6 people in July this year and then I lost Oreo.

I always knew I was going to take his passing hard, but it's killing me. Its emotionally and physically hurting me each day. I get ask if I'll get another pet, but he was so much more to me so I don't know if could. I wouldn't want to get a pet and not care for it as much because I'm still in love with Oreo.

For anyone that has been blessed to have a pet like mine that knew it was your everything and you were theirs, I'll pray for you so you never have to feel my pain. To those that know all to well already, I'm so sorry for you loss and know you always have someone to talk to one here!

Kati

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carolann12345

Kati

 

I am so sorry for your loss. Losing any animal you love just tears you apart. Our beloved Purrdy who was fourteen died eight years ago she died in our arms and is now buried in the garden under a red camellia bush. My partner misses her but I miss her more. We got another cat called Tarot who sadly wet out one day and never came back he was only just over a year old. I think about him every day and despite searching for him I will never know what happened to him so we planted another camellia in memory of him. We then got Snuffles who was an adorable black and white cat but after a year a neighbors dog killed him so another camellia was planted where we buried him in the garden. Each time we lost a cat we vowed not to get another as it is so heartbreaking to lose a pet you love so much but we did get another two cats after Snuffles and thankfully Charlie our ginger baby and Harry our big tabby baby are now seven and we love them to bits.  We still miss and love our other cats who have gone and we will never stop loving or missing them but Charlie and Harry are loved and pampered just as our other cats were.  it is a priviledge to share our lives with animals and never feel guilty of grieving for Oreo. You have lots more love to give to another cat in time.  Take care.

 

Carol

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Hi Kati,

I'm not sure if you'll ever see this as it's been awhile since you shared your post, but I'm going through an all too similar situation right now with my dear Jasmine. It's funny because I was just googling ways to accept the passing of my cat and this was the first link to pop up on the results. The very first cat I had ever known was named Oreo and he passed away when he was 8-years-old because he had some type of cancer. I was fairly young so I don't really know what was wrong with him. However, when I was in first grade we got Milo and a few months later we got Jasmine. They were like two peas in a pod and I loved them soooooo much! We've got another cat, Summit, and two dogs, Sheeba and Jack, later on down the road, but they aren't what brought me to your post (but I can't leave them out, either!). Anyways, Jasmine was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 2013 (I think), just before she turned 16 (we don't know when she was born, but when we got her the vet thought she was only five months old, which would've put her birth circa May 1997). I started treating her with crushed up medicine (pill form) on her food and she would eat it some times, but not a whole lot. She lost quite a bit of weight as she used to be a 20-pound cat. Her final weight was 5-pounds! :( I eventually switched her over to the pen/liquid form of the medicine as it was easier to swipe the medicine on the inside of her ear than to watch her eat all the food AROUND the crushed up medicine! Haha! It's so hard for me to let go of her because she was the best cat I have ever had (of course all of them have been great), but I shared almost a "sisterly" bond with her. Like you said they were there through EVERYTHING!! I cannot imagine what you felt going through the passing of your cat like that. I've seen my stepdad's dog pass, but I didn't have a bond with him. It's heartbreaking. I don't know if I'll ever recover from the loss of my little princess, Jasmine. I've always considered her the "perfect" cat for me. It felt as though her and I always had the same personality and loved each others' company 24/7. I hope you have been able to find peace with the loss of Oreo, but completely understand and can relate if you haven't. Take care!

Ashley

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Hi Carol, 

Sorry to just now write back. I never got a notice for your post. So sorry about all your losses. Same as mine in a way. My 1st cat was a neighborhood street cat that only went to me, but when we moved I couldn't find him, so I didn't get to take Snowy with me. After that I had a cat named cutie. I loved her, but she got run over in front of our house, we got another cat Casper and he went outside and never came back. My mom said I could get another cat so I got one name Chasity and my mom saw Oreo and fell in love with him. Even though my dad said only 1 cat my mom brought Oreo home too. Him and my mom had a special bond. Well my cat Chasity ended up falling asleep in the alley and got run over when I was in the 3rd grade. I was devastated. My mom let me miss school. That day Oreo started to comfort me. So he became my buddy since then.  Its so hard to go through so many losses, but I love animals and have bonds with each of them, so it's hard not to love other ones. Each pet is special. I'm so glad you found other animals to love. They really are the best!

 

Kati

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Hi Ashley,

 So sorry for the loss of your beloved cat, Jasmine. Sounds like she was special to you like Oreo was to me. Looks like you had her for a while like I did with him. He was almost 19 years old before he past. Him passing was horrible on me. I was seriously depressed for a long time. It took me a while before thinking of him didn't make me want to cry. Same when my mom past away. Now I think of her and laugh about fun memories. Being near 2 years since he  past its a little easier to think of him and not cry. I still miss him everyday very much. I don't think I'll ever fully get over him. It doesn't matter to me that he was an animal and not a person. He was like my baby and I love him so much. Getting to love on my sister's cat helps, but makes me miss him too. 

Shows how special she is to you since you have so many other animals, but yall had a certain connection. You can love them all, but she stood out to you for some reason.  Yall had something special and that's wonderful. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know it'll hurt for a good while, but it will get somewhat easier. I do believe animals go to heaven, bc they're just full of pure love. 

If ya ever feel like writing about how ya feel, you can always reach me on here. U got a notification when you wrote on here, so I got it quickly. I'll pray for ya, and hope one day you welcome another love like you had with Jasmine and that you have that pet forever!

Kati

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Angela Godbey

I just read your story about the loss of Oreo and I cried the whole time. I just lost my kitty Socks, my best friend of 16 yrs and I don't know how to deal with the pain and guilt I'm feeling. I loved him to the moon and back and would always tell him that, especially in the last 11 months of his life. Last June he went to get up and just fell over to one side, kinda like he had a stroke and couldn't walk. I rushed him to the vets and they didn't know what had happened to him. They kept him overnight and then the next morning they said I needed to take him on the a specialty hospital about two hrs away and let them find out what was wrong. He couldn't even stand or hold his head up by this time. I drove him there and they kept him from Tuesday until that following Saturday and they did tests and a CT scan and thought something was going on with his neck and spine. They withdrew spinal fluid and it came back with protein in it so they said he had a spinal cord tumor that was cancer. They put him on prednisone and Gabapentin and told me to take him home and enjoy the time I had and that I did. Eleven months later and he was still living but had been through so much. He had to have colon surgery about a month ago for backed up stool and he was never the same after that. The vet should have known his little body wouldn't be able to bounce back from that kind of surgery, especially with his age and the high dose of prednisone he was on which compromised his immune system, not to mention the spinal cord tumor. He passed away on Saturday, May 14, 2016 and I'm not even sure what he died from. I wasn't there to hold him when he died and that will forever haunt me along with all the bad decisions I made that I feel ended his sweet life. They said his potassium was low and they think that is what killed him. I'm like you mean he's still here after the cancer diagnosis and then he dies from low potassium. That's like living through a plane crash and then dying from a hangnail. I just can't accept it and I can't stop crying. I keep seeing his little face and how he was heaving and throwing up and his little shaved paw coming up in the air, probably because he couldn't breathe. Then he started peeing and his bowels moved and he didn't even know it. I can't deal with this, I truly can't. I need you back Socks, I so need you. I honestly think this will kill me.

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Angela,

  I'm so sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry you seem guilty abut the choices you made for him and that he didn't go in your arms.

 I can tell you my cat past away in my arms and it didn't make it any easier. I saw his eyes go grey and to me it looked like he was just gone, but physically he was still alive. I looked up and a thing said when their eye color goes it's as if that's when their spirit is gone. So it made me feel good that I felt like I knew when he was truly gone vs hours of pain and suffering.

 Please don't feel guilty about what you did. As much as it kills you what all your loved one went through you did it all to save them. Killed me to read it bc I wasn't with my cat earlier in the day bc I had to take my father to the doctor. My sister called me and said "I'm serious something is wrong, Oreo can't even walk."  She showed me when I picked him up. He wouldn't eat for her either but always did for me, and when he refused for me my hear dropped and I layed on the ground next to him crying. I knew what was happening and next to seeing my  mom pass away at 17, this was the worst thing. He peed on me 3 times and just layed on me, but after seeing his eye color go I felt like he was gone. It took his body about 3 hours to finally go, and he froze up quickly.

I can tell you I felt exactly like you. I didn't think people would get how much I was dying on the inside because Oreo was a cat and not a human, but I didn't care. Everyone knew exactly what he meant to me, and those that didn't I could tell them, but I didn't care whatever anyone thought of my grief.  A pet is no less a loved on than a person. I can say it took me almost a year to stop crying when I thought about my loss. It took me forever to get past the loss to get to the sweet memories of Oreo. I didn't get another pet, but it helps people the families I'm a nanny for all have dogs and my sister has a cat so that helps me heal a little, but I'm afraid to get another cat and love them as much as I did Oreo and then possible go into this type loss again. That's something you have to choose for yourself if you ever decide to get another pet or not.

Please never feel guilty for what you did, bc it was all out of desperate love to do whatever you can to save your cat. Health wise things can always change so there might not have been anything you could have done. It will take you a while and you'll never forget the love you have. Sorry it's gonna hurt like hell, and time didn't help I just got use to a new normal without my cat and same will happen for you, but we each go through things on and in our own ways. 

I'll pray for you and hope you know that your cat knew how loved they were by you and that's the best and only thing a pet ever wants from and for us! 

Kati

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