Feral straining breathing

[silent meowlook]

I am so sorry for your loss. From the description of how she died and the old video of her breathing, it looks like maybe she had heart disease. Had you trapped her again, the stress of it might have killed her. The way you handled her life she was a happy protected outdoor cat. She didn’t have to wonder where her next meal came from or worry about a place to sleep out of the rain. You took care of all of that.

 

[swagman]

thank you for the kind words and encouragement. I read somewhere that feral cats often only live to 2-3 yrs and have felt like I was on borrowed time. Its nice to hear we can beat those odds with care. My heart still aches for Swag and I have kept the window blind closed because I can't stand seeing the window without her there. We have her mother living nearby and I saw when she was born in 2017. She has 2 siblings (M & FM) from the prior litter that live mostly in our garage. We TNR'd all of them. Swag was cast away by her sister and that is how she ended up on my back deck. We formed a bond through that window. Thank you Mr. Squeak too! Over 16 makes him a sage!

 

[swagman]

Thank you S silent meowlook too! My wife thinks same, she was often breathing this way but I followed advice above 2 yrs ago to not try to trap her again because I agreed that it could have done more harm than good. Over the years we have tried putting worm and flea meds with food but no matter how hungry they wont touch it. I tried KFC, mackerel, and other suggestions.
Thanks again to everyone for the support and kind words. I have so many happy memories with Swag and oddly the one that is sticking in my mind is finding her after she passed before anything else did and getting to finally pet her.