A month ago, I lost Nenya after her battle with cancer. I never thought I'd lose another one so quickly.
I'm still in shock, and hurt, and angry... Ebony had cholangiohepatitis. I caught it in the early stages, before she had jaundice, or fever, or was too dehydrated... I took her to the vet every single day and called them to let them know the status and that she wasn't improving very much or at all, and it still wasn't good enough. I'm angry at them because I don't think they took me or her condition seriously, not until it was too late. I'm angry at myself because I feel like I should have pushed them harder to escalate her treatment or taken her to a specialist earlier like I considered. Ebony shouldn't have had to die, it wasn't the type of the illness that she couldn't recover from.
Maybe I'm wrong in how I feel; maybe it was inevitable. She had antibiotics from the beginning and wasn't responding to them, so maybe this would have happened even if she did receive fluids, a feeding tube, etc. early on in the treatment cycle. I just don't know.
Ebony was born on April 8th, 2016, she was the third of in a litter of six kittens -- I was right there when she was born. Ebony was the runt of the litter, but like the rest of them, they all did well and survived. I have never seen a family of cats so close -- Camo never tried to drive her kittens away, so even at adulthood Camo still treats her babies like they are little kittens, and she and Ebony were especially close.
Ebony at about a week old:
Ebony with all her littermates:
Ebony at Christmas:
Ebony with her mother, Camo:
She was only a year and five months when she died. She was so young, and it doesn't seem right at all, not for something like cholangiohepatitis. I wish I could have done better. I just wanted to fix you, Ebony, and I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. I don't even know why I couldn't save you, I don't know what happened, and... I just don't understand any of this, but it just really, really hurts.
I love you so much, Ebony, and I really wish we had more time together. I wish I could have gotten to know you better before I had to lose you.
I'm still in shock, and hurt, and angry... Ebony had cholangiohepatitis. I caught it in the early stages, before she had jaundice, or fever, or was too dehydrated... I took her to the vet every single day and called them to let them know the status and that she wasn't improving very much or at all, and it still wasn't good enough. I'm angry at them because I don't think they took me or her condition seriously, not until it was too late. I'm angry at myself because I feel like I should have pushed them harder to escalate her treatment or taken her to a specialist earlier like I considered. Ebony shouldn't have had to die, it wasn't the type of the illness that she couldn't recover from.
Maybe I'm wrong in how I feel; maybe it was inevitable. She had antibiotics from the beginning and wasn't responding to them, so maybe this would have happened even if she did receive fluids, a feeding tube, etc. early on in the treatment cycle. I just don't know.
Ebony was born on April 8th, 2016, she was the third of in a litter of six kittens -- I was right there when she was born. Ebony was the runt of the litter, but like the rest of them, they all did well and survived. I have never seen a family of cats so close -- Camo never tried to drive her kittens away, so even at adulthood Camo still treats her babies like they are little kittens, and she and Ebony were especially close.
Ebony at about a week old:
Ebony with all her littermates:
Ebony at Christmas:
Ebony with her mother, Camo:
She was only a year and five months when she died. She was so young, and it doesn't seem right at all, not for something like cholangiohepatitis. I wish I could have done better. I just wanted to fix you, Ebony, and I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. I don't even know why I couldn't save you, I don't know what happened, and... I just don't understand any of this, but it just really, really hurts.
I love you so much, Ebony, and I really wish we had more time together. I wish I could have gotten to know you better before I had to lose you.