Our kitty, Dusty Rose, had been having some weezing issues and The Wife decided that we should probably take her up to the vet. She figured it was some sort of allergy, and she'd get a shot, or maybe some pills, and would be back home tonight. Unfortunately, this played out just like when we lost Anique seven years ago.
Now, The Wife and The Girls had preceded me out of the house by a half hour, as I was headed to a networking event in the west loop. I was just going towards the door when I let the answering machine pick up a call ... it was The Wife ... and she sounded shaken. I figured that I should probably call back, and did so.
Instead of an allergy, the initial prognosis was congestive heart failure. This was a shock, as, aside from the intermittent wheezing, Dusty hadn't been apparently feeling badly at all. The vet first suggested putting her down, but then said that they could try "draining her".
Dusty Rose, 2003-2009 RIP
The hope was that if they got the fluid off, it might get her through some more months, and that we could then repeat the process as needed. Well, they got out what seemed (from the description I heard) to be about 10-12 ounces of a pink fluid (which I take it was highly unusual), which is an awful lot of stuff to come out of a fairly normal sized cat!
Before draining off the fluid, they were unable to read anything in the X-rays. However, after they got that out they did another set and saw two large masses on the lungs, which they assumed to be some sort of cancer.
Dusty was not getting much relief from the procedures so far, and The Wife tells me that she was having a very hard time breathing, with her mouth hanging open, etc. (much worse than any behaviors seen previously). It became obvious that there was really only one path of action appropriate, so they arranged for her to be put down. I guess all three of them stayed with Dusty as she died, which surprised me, but I guess is good closure for them.
Me, I'm sad that I didn't "say goodbye" ... Daughter #2 was wanting me to "Say goodbye to Dusty" as they were heading out the door, but I said I'd be seeing her this evening. I guess she was right and I was wrong.
I didn't find out the "Schrodinger question" until I got home.
Anyway, this was quite a shock, since Dusty was only six years old. When Nikki died, she was 14 and had been in declining health, but Dusty had just started with the wheezing this summer. Very very sad. Needless to say, this is another "emotional body blow" that we didn't need on top of everything else.