Due to an absurd confluence of events* we just lost one of our Main Coon's to a UTI blockage. His creatinine levels were off the charts which left us looking at $6,000 hospitalization with no guarantee that he would survive 3-4 days in the ER never mind permanent kidney damage. He was a classic brown tabby at a lean 25 lbs. He was by no means a perfect cat overall but his positive attributes outweighed the negative and most importantly he had become an integral part of the family for 12 years especially post COVID with us working from home on a permanent basis.
Owning pets is just so hard because you know you're going to have to eventually tell them goodbye and their loss leaves a huge void yet we as pet owners choose to do it again. We're just a glutton for punishment I guess.
It's somewhat bittersweet that we have his brother who's in better shape but when he's gone it's the end of an era. A representation of the last decade lived. Gone.....forever.
*I feel compelled to explain what happened because although it wouldn't cure is other issues he did not have to die. Almost 2 months ago we had a tumor the size of a lime removed from his side near his rear leg. Luckily it was a low grade tumor and the vet obtained full margins (i.e. got all of it). After recovery he had started to defecate around the house rather than use the litterbox. He already has behavioral issues (FLUTD) which we managed to largely fix with a change in litter. During this time he started to use the bathroom outside (Wife would let him out to sit in the bushes and watch birds a couple of times a day) rather than inside and we couldn't figure out why he would choose to avoid one of his litterboxes. He also had a history of holding his urine and urinate 1x a day and for a large main coon it was a lot of urine. Fast forward to a week ago last Weds we thought his tumor may be growing back so we brought him back to the vet for a check up. The vet checked him out and thought the inflammation was due to remaining internal sutures which hadn't fully dissolved. We decided to try to make him more comfortable by putting him on a NSAID, but because he had explosive diarrhea on this medication during his surgical recovery we opted every other day rather than 3-days on and 3-days off and would revaluate in two weeks. Saturday I thought he may have an abscess near his neck and he was a little lethargic. Back to the vet and it wasn't anything. The vets asked us if was eating/drinking and we said yes but it was hard to tell because he started to use the bathroom outside and we have another cat in the house. Sunday, Monday, I notice he wasn't eating so on Tuesday morning I emailed the vet to see if he could prescribe mirtazapine. He was very lethargic, not eating, but these were the side effects of a NSAID in cats. Weds he had not urinate or defecated in the litterbox, so we thought he may have a UTI. Vet said to bring him in on Thursday morning as it was already 430pm. Normally when he has a UTI he would urinate somewhere in the house. We have a UV light used to look for urine and for the prior 1-2 days I looked everywhere in the house and did not find any spots but because he had been outside I assumed he urinate outside. Vet said to bring him in on Thursday morning as it was already 430pm. He was fully blocked and a urine panel had his creatinine levels at 11.
Owning pets is just so hard because you know you're going to have to eventually tell them goodbye and their loss leaves a huge void yet we as pet owners choose to do it again. We're just a glutton for punishment I guess.
It's somewhat bittersweet that we have his brother who's in better shape but when he's gone it's the end of an era. A representation of the last decade lived. Gone.....forever.
*I feel compelled to explain what happened because although it wouldn't cure is other issues he did not have to die. Almost 2 months ago we had a tumor the size of a lime removed from his side near his rear leg. Luckily it was a low grade tumor and the vet obtained full margins (i.e. got all of it). After recovery he had started to defecate around the house rather than use the litterbox. He already has behavioral issues (FLUTD) which we managed to largely fix with a change in litter. During this time he started to use the bathroom outside (Wife would let him out to sit in the bushes and watch birds a couple of times a day) rather than inside and we couldn't figure out why he would choose to avoid one of his litterboxes. He also had a history of holding his urine and urinate 1x a day and for a large main coon it was a lot of urine. Fast forward to a week ago last Weds we thought his tumor may be growing back so we brought him back to the vet for a check up. The vet checked him out and thought the inflammation was due to remaining internal sutures which hadn't fully dissolved. We decided to try to make him more comfortable by putting him on a NSAID, but because he had explosive diarrhea on this medication during his surgical recovery we opted every other day rather than 3-days on and 3-days off and would revaluate in two weeks. Saturday I thought he may have an abscess near his neck and he was a little lethargic. Back to the vet and it wasn't anything. The vets asked us if was eating/drinking and we said yes but it was hard to tell because he started to use the bathroom outside and we have another cat in the house. Sunday, Monday, I notice he wasn't eating so on Tuesday morning I emailed the vet to see if he could prescribe mirtazapine. He was very lethargic, not eating, but these were the side effects of a NSAID in cats. Weds he had not urinate or defecated in the litterbox, so we thought he may have a UTI. Vet said to bring him in on Thursday morning as it was already 430pm. Normally when he has a UTI he would urinate somewhere in the house. We have a UV light used to look for urine and for the prior 1-2 days I looked everywhere in the house and did not find any spots but because he had been outside I assumed he urinate outside. Vet said to bring him in on Thursday morning as it was already 430pm. He was fully blocked and a urine panel had his creatinine levels at 11.
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