Losing a Friend

It's the end of an era here. Tigger stopped eating properly earlier in the week, he had already stopped properly grooming himself(to the point of having huge mats build up in his hair) and then he stopped drinking water. Our regular vet is on vacation so we took Tigger to a vet that Dr Murray's staff takes their pets to when Dr Murray isn't available. We saw Dr McKenna, who wanted to take blood and urine samples and get us to an emergency animal hospital where they could admit Tigger and do some u/s work to see what was going on. We waited for about 2 hours at the hospital, only to find out that his test results from Liston Animal Hospital for kidney function were off the charts, and that the treatment they wanted him to have we couldn't afford. In the end, we decided to have them give him some subcutaneous fluids, abx, and some other med to help him pass a slightly more comfortable evening at home. The feeling of being judged by the vet for our decision was almost too much to bear. We brought him home and made him as comfortable as possible. Kevin wanted him to sleep up on the bed with me, so we made a safe little spot with an old t-shirt over a piddle pad just in case and that is where he spent the night until about quarter to 6, when he got off and threw up blood. I got him cleaned up and quietly took him outside to enjoy the fresh cool air, the grass, birdsong and the rising sunshine. Eventually everyone got up and came out with us.

Once Liston Animal Hospital opened, we called and got a time to bring Tigger out for his last ever visit to the vet. Everyone there was wonderful, understanding and compassionate. Much more so than the emergency hospital staff. I will most definitely be sending a thank you card to them this week. Next will be informing our regular vet's office of Tigger's passing.