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Post by deyana on Jun 7, 2016 23:19:14 GMT
My Angel is mostly Husky with a small amount of German Sheppard. So for her breed she is way up there longevity wise. But she has been very healthy and I have feeling she will be around for some time yet.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 7, 2016 23:38:12 GMT
Renzo is in another crisis: eating practically nothing (but drinking water), even thinner and complainy. I thought he was going to die, he did perk up a bit and I cuddled him all night, both of us drifting off to sleep. Hard to know. He is now 20 years and 4 months old. Renzo is exactly the age our Boodles was when we could no longer justify the extreme measures it was taking to keep her alive. The vet helped her to slip away peacefully. No treatment for the gaping void she left behind, however. Well, getting two young cats 3 weeks later helped a lot! Good luck to you and your kitty boy, lagatta.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 8, 2016 0:35:09 GMT
Deyana, one of my cousins has a healthy Husky, but she lives in Iqaluit!
Kimby, I'm taking no extreme measures, just observing, but it may come to euthanasia if he doesn't just sleep himself off. Or recover, though at this point that is unlikely. He is a tough little bugger though.
I'll miss him terribly. And have no intention of getting cats soon after, as I haven't been able to travel in quite a while, even when I was offered opportunities to volunteer and get tickets across the pond and between two or three European cities.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 0:43:25 GMT
After my Emma passed, I didn't get a new cat, mostly because my boyfriend now husband is very allergic. But you find that, even when you don't have one at home, all cats are your pets. They seek out those who love them, on the street, on friends' couches.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 3:53:33 GMT
I am so wishing Renzo the best Lagatta. He has been a valued part of our forum and I know that when "the time comes" you will know what to do and our hearts are with you.
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Post by bjd on Jun 8, 2016 6:12:04 GMT
I hope for you and for Renzo that he goes in his sleep, peacefully and quickly. There will be a big empty space at first, but as you say, you will be able to travel again without worrying about him.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 8, 2016 10:49:09 GMT
Thanks, all. I woke up at 5 a.m. crying my eyes out. He is still alive, and mewed to me. He dragged himself from the bedroom to the adjacent home office. I'm trying to work (I have a deadline to meet on a translation, and must bill two editing jobs).
It is normal for me to get up very early, especially in late spring and early summer when it is broad daylight. Renzo will drink a bit of water but won't eat. I might try some special food from the vet's - a tiny tin - but at the same time it might be normal for him to refuse food as he gives up the ghost. If he suffers visibly or struggles he'll be getting the needle at the vet's. She had a cat at the clinic who lived as long as Renzo has.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 12:52:05 GMT
I hope you have time to get him to the vet, if only to spare you the awful discovery in his basket or under your bed.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 8, 2016 12:54:07 GMT
His symptoms/condition sound very much like our kitty's. The extreme measures was injection of subcutaneous fluids to keep her hydrated. It would give her a brief boost, but wouldn't last. We also spoon fed her from jars of baby food. When it became more evident that she wouldn't pull through, we decided not to prolong her dying any longer.
As I said in my very first post on this thread, you can't change the eventual outcome. You can only make it easier for poor Renzo to make this passage. The indecision is the worst part.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 13:55:25 GMT
Many years ago when I was in a state of indecision about when or how would I know when it was time, a good friend of mine said to me, "you will know". She was right. Take care Lagatta.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 8, 2016 15:01:46 GMT
Each time I hear "You will know", I shake my head. We DIDNT know. And we spent days second-guessing, both before and after the "last visit to the vet".
Perhaps it's different with dogs, who are less introverted and independent than cats...
We truly couldn't tell.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 9, 2016 0:06:48 GMT
Renzo has died at 20 years and three months. That makes him about a centenarian in human terms. I like seeing him on forums just after Muhammad Ali, as Renzo was also black and very handsome, and a very skilled hunter in his day, who leapt to the top of an extremely tall bookcase from my workdesk, with a smidgen of headspace above.
Like most extremely elderly cats, Renzo had kidney failure, which suddenly became acute for no apparent reason. I had made an appointment for him to have "assisted death", but after petting him and cleaning him with a little washcloth, I went off from my work to do some shopping. At some point he had stopped breathing. He had just fallen asleep, and faded away.The two nights before, I took him to bed and we cuddled for hours and he purred and licked me. Renzo had always been a svelte Siamesish cat, but he was terribly thin.
I want to die myself, but rest assured that I have no concrete plans to that effect. I have too many things to get done.
--- Kerouac, other than him being dead, there was no "awful discovery" to be made. He couldn't shit himself as he hadn't eaten solid food in days. At worst he piddled a bit on the floor, and not a lake of wee, just a few drops I cleaned with an absorbent cloth. No throwing up blood or anything else gruesome. He was really hollowed out by the sudden acute phase of kidney failure.
Now we have to take his tiny body to the vet's office, to be incinerated (group incineration, but the ashes are buried; hopefully they fertilise some plants).
One of my friends who is a vet in the small city of Sherbrooke Québec (about halfway between here and the people's republic of Burlington Vermont) had to leave for her hometown on the Prairies as her elderly dad was dying ... of acute kidney failure. I'm sure her colleagues were careful not to mention that he must have been a cat.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 0:08:47 GMT
Oh, lagatta. I'm so, so sorry.
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Post by htmb on Jun 9, 2016 1:00:32 GMT
I'm very sorry, Lagatta. I am sure you'll miss him terribly. The death of a beloved pet can leave such a large, empty void.
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Post by fumobici on Jun 9, 2016 1:06:49 GMT
Very sad to hear lagatta. Renzo had a great run though didn't he and he sounds like a very lucky cat too. I hate losing a pet so damn much.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 1:17:02 GMT
I am so saddened to read this Lagatta even though you knew the time was nigh. I know he was like a soul mate to you and his absence will leave a huge void. You were both lucky and fortunate to have found each other. Take care.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 9, 2016 1:35:21 GMT
I am sorry Lagatta, he had a good long life. It was nice to read you had a nice cuddle with him so recently.
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Post by questa on Jun 9, 2016 2:01:14 GMT
I echo the feelings for you as expressed by the other posters here. I've been down that path with three cats, and it doesn't get easier. Renzo was one of the luckiest cats in the world to have you and the love you gave him.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 9, 2016 2:10:29 GMT
Lagatta, I have tears in my eyes after reading your account of Renzo's last days and hours. Perhaps he chose when to make his exit, after having those two long cuddles with you, and maybe waiting for you to leave the room before passing on. Or maybe he just closed his eyes and didn't open them. At any rate, I am glad you were spared having to bring the vet in. It sounds like a "good death" after a good long life. Well done, both of you.
I'll be thinking of you as the days and weeks without a kitty go by. Perhaps you might make a donation in Renzo's name to an animal shelter to honor him. Here, we can sponsor a cage at the shelter with a donation. They put a picture of the dear departed kitty on the cage to recognize the gift.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 4:23:29 GMT
Sad inevitable news.
Your new found liberty will not console you, but it is sure to bring a welcome transition in your life.
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Post by bjd on Jun 9, 2016 5:37:03 GMT
I'm glad Renzo's death was quick and in his sleep and that you didn't have to go through a vet.
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Post by rikita on Jun 9, 2016 6:59:25 GMT
*hugs*, lagatta
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Post by deyana on Jun 9, 2016 13:32:44 GMT
So sorry to hear this, Lagatta. ((hugs))
He died peacefully knowing how much he was loved.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 9, 2016 16:09:49 GMT
Thanks, everyone. We took the little body to a nearby vet clinic. I threw his litter box away, and put a chair where it had been.
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Post by chexbres on Jun 14, 2016 13:08:12 GMT
So sorry this had to end. It never gets any easier, no matter which way it happens.
Dogs want to stay with you because it's their duty, even long past the time they know they can't hang on any longer. Cats will definitely tell you when it's time.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 15, 2016 10:50:23 GMT
Chexbres, Renzo was half-Siamese though, and Siamese are very "doggy" cats. He was very much a one-person cat.
I'm waking up at 4:30 a.m. at the first light (sensing it, I can't really see it from my bedroom at that point). Feel like I've been kicked in the head or had drunk 3 bottles of mine (and got up to ensure that such had not really been the case, no, not at all - I drank the half-bottle of wine I had planned to drink with supper, but nothing unreasonable or self-destructive. The two full bottles of wine in the kitchen remained unopened. I think it is because I'm neglecting to drink water, and ate nothing until supper.
So I'm dutifully drinking water with my stovetop espresso... I have some nice radishes, the long pink and white ones.
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Post by lugg on Jun 17, 2016 17:54:29 GMT
So sorry to read this Lagatta. Renzo was lucky to have had you as an owner and you him as a beloved cat. I can imagine how much you must miss him right now. x
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Post by lagatta on Jul 19, 2016 9:38:03 GMT
Just an update, though this should probably go into a different forum. I have a new little black cat, at least provisionally, as she was found by a neighbour who already has three and couldn't really have a fourth in her flat which isn't much bigger than mine (her ten-year-old daughter also lives there, at least half the time, sometimes she's with dad). I didn't really want another cat at least not so soon, but admit that her presence makes me a bit less disconsolate, as she insists on being fed, cleaned up after, petted and played with. We'll see.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 19, 2016 13:22:01 GMT
The gaping hole they leave behind really wants to be filled, doesn't it? We lasted three weeks without a cat, and would have gotten another one sooner had it not been for an already-scheduled trip coming up. The day we got back, we were at the animal shelter, "auditioning" our next fur-babies. Can't live without them, though they do complicate traveling.
Hope things work out for you and your new friend, lagatta.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 19, 2016 14:45:14 GMT
Her name is Livia, by the way. She's named after a deceased Venetian friend, Livio.
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