Nestle: The Greatest Torti Ever

Nestle went to be with Jesus this afternoon.  

Or she crossed over the rainbow bridge.  

Or she high-fived the head honcho in hell.  

I guess it depends on what you believe...

Regardless, she is no longer with us and that is a sad, sad thing.

The vet agreed today (same vet as last Thursday) that she had declined significantly.  She had a temp of 104.  There was oozing of bodily fluids from unmentionable orifices.  It was terrible.

So, my heart is hurting this evening.  

I got Nestle in 2002.  Tortoise shell colored cats have quite the bad (earned) rap in vet clinics, but not Nestle.  She was the sweetest kidden ever, even at the vet.  She preferred to sleep belly-up.  She loved licking the lotion off of my legs after a shower.  EW.  She helped me incubate four babies in mah belleh. She tolerated Scott practice-diapering her pre-James. She loooooooved Otto. She was fantastic with my kids...even with Mark, who was never gentle in his affection towards her.  

Nuzzle, we had a great, great 15.5 years. Thanks for being you.

>^..^<

Nestle: The Cat Who Lived

Today was truly an odd day.  I made the excruciating decision to put my cat, Nestle (15.5 years old) to sleep.  I called and made an appointment for her with the vet.

I begged Scott to take her.  I was too much of a mess to go.

We explained what was happening (generally speaking) to the kids.  They hugged her goodbye.  Scott was gone about an hour.

And then Nestle and Scott came back home.

I give you Nestle, the cat who lived:

My rationale for having her put to sleep:

-increased vomiting

-weight loss

-blood in urine

-increased vocalization

-not able to keep food/water down

-sunken in eyes

-lethargic

She had many of these symptoms a few weeks ago and we went to this same vet's emergency hours.  They did a bunch of blood work, X-rays, urinalysis and sent us home with antibiotics for a UTI. 

Today the vet wasn't comfortable putting Nestle to sleep with her current clinical picture.  Admittedly it was a soft call.  My threshold for her suffering is pretty low. I'm not one that thinks "pets are people too."  Nope.  But also?  I'm a nurse.  I know a little bit about clinical assessment. I used to be a vet tech in an emergency clinic.  I've put to sleep more animals than I'd like to admit.  I know my cat and what's normal for her.  Since January she has been declining.  She lost a pound since January 20th (the emergency UTI visit).  That is a LOT for a cat.

The vet sent Nestle home with urinary sphincter meds (their words not mine), pain meds, and some under-the-skin fluids.  According to the vet, if she's no different in three days she will perform the euthanasia.  

So.  I cried all day about this decision, felt like I made the best call I could for my pet, and that call was DE-NIED.  

I'm not mad at the vet.  I understand why she made the decision she did.  She doesn't know me, my cat, or my medical background. I'm not mad at Scott.  Bless him.  He was in the worst possible position playing middle man throughout this vet appointment.  I don't know what I feel except exhausted, feeling like we'll get to make this decision again in the very near future.

Nestle is currently wide-eyed from the pain meds they gave her.  She seems comfortable.  We'll see how the next few days go...