Friday, December 23, 2011

Pixie - The Long Goodbye

Dear Friends - Fellow Felines, C-A-N-I-N-E-S and Humans!

It breaks my heart to tell you this, but I must. My little sisfur, Pixie, left for the Bridge just before three o'clock this afternoon. I told you last week that she had become very quiet and subdued. Mummy was still administering the infusions, the antibiotics and even managing to sneak her other medications into her food, but nothing helped. Pixie was just fading away before our eyes. She became so thin, she was all fur and bones. Mummy kept grasping at straws - everytime Pixie got up to go of her own accord to her food bowl (of dry food) or went to the bathroom, or ate some Fancy Feasties, Mummy convinced herself that Pixie was starting to get better. But then Pixie would just lie down again on the bed (or, more often, under the bed) or crouch, as if she was in pain, or sit staring into the distance, until finally, the day before yesterday, Mummy realised that the kindest thing she could do for Pixie, would be to be help her to the Bridge.

I want to tell you all, Pixie and I had a long talk last night, after Mummy went to sleep. I think Pixie knew that today would be her last day with Us. She told me she had been trying very hard, for a long while, to be strong for Mummy and for Me, because she knew Mummy's heart would break if Pixie were to leave Us, and she knew how lonely I would be without her, but she simply didn't have the strength to fight any more. She was so very, very tired. She had tried to whisper this to Mummy, but she wasn't sure Mummy had heard her.

Not eight hours have passed since Pixie went, but already, I feel so lonesome. I know she's in a beautiful place now, where she'll make lots of new friends and also meet some old ones. I'm sure our dear, dear friend, Admiral Hestorb, will be one of the first to greet her, and Mummy's first pussycat, Minxie, who sent Pixie and Me to Mummy over sixteen years ago - and Mummy thinks that her own Mummy, who crossed the Bridge many, many years ago, will also come and keep an eye on Pixie. And, of course, the Great Cat in the Sky who made us all, will watch over her. 
But oh! kitties! I miss her so much...

Saturday, December 17, 2011

A Last Minute Reprieve

On Monday, Mummy took Pixie to the V-E-T. Last Shabbat, She decided it was time, so we had a very tearful weekend - and on Sunday evening, She didn't go to her usual choir practice because she was so unhappy. And She took the day off work on Monday, so as to spend the whole day with Pixie. She had intended to ask the V-E-T to come here so Pixie could cross the Bridge surrounded by her Family - but when She spoke to him on the phone and voiced her concerns that She might be making the wrong decision and was thinking of herself rather than Pixie, the V-E-T said She could bring Pixie to him and he would be able to tell if she was in any better shape than she was on her last visit. That was Dr. Shimon, who is the third V-E-T at the clinic. So Mummy put Pixie in her carrier on Monday afternoon and whispered to Me (Possum) to say goodbye to her and called a taxi and went off to the V-E-T (half way across town), accompanied by her own Daddy, because She said she couldn't face it on her own.
Well, Fellow Felines, I waited and waited - and a few hours later, back She came, with Pixie, curled up in her carrier - still alive and miaowing! I was fur-labbergasted! And so relieved! 

Pixie told me that when they got to the clinic, Mummy still couldn't come to a decision and the V-E-T (not Dr. Shimon, but Dr. Adrian, who is the head V-E-T, Pixie thinks) asked her if it would make it easier for her if She knew Pixie had moved into Stage 4 of her illness. Mummy said yes, so the V-E-T stuck a needle into Pixie and took some more of her blood. Mummy sat outside and waited with Pixie while Dr. Adrian took care of a C-A-N-I-N-E and then he checked the results of her blood tests and lo and behold, Fellow Felines! Not only had she not moved up into Stage 4 - she had actually dropped down into Stage 2!!! But - and this is a big BUT - she had a very high white blood cell count, showing she had an acute infection of something. He didn't know of what - but it could be treated with antibiotics.
So Mummy decided that if Pixie wasn't in immediate danger of succumbing to her kidney disease, and if the infection that was making her so miserable and even more off her food than usual could be treated with a 2-week course of antibiotics, then She wasn't going to give up on Pixie just yet.
Pixie also says the V-E-T felt her chest and back and tummy and said he could feel what seemed to be a big tumour - but he couldn't tell exactly where. Then he added that it might not actually be a tumour, it might be that one kidney had grown to compensate for the loss of the other. At least, that's what Pixie thinks he was saying, she was just so relieved at being able to come home again with Mummy, she wasn't taking everything in. At any rate, the V-E-T said he couldn't be sure without doing an ultrasound, but he couldn't do it on the spot, it has to be by appointment and he had an emergency case of a C-A-N-I-N-E just come in. So Mummy brought Pixie home and She has said She won't be carting Pixie back off to the clinic to do an ultrasound. If it is a tumour, there's nothing that can be done about it anyway. Pixie is sixteen and a half years old and an operation would kill her as surely as cancer would. So She's just going to give Pixie her antibiotics and other medications and as long as she doesn't seem to be suffering, we'll just take every day as it comes and spend as much time together as possible. 
So now Pixie is having antibiotics in liquid form twice a day - and Mummy is having much more success administering them than she is having with all the pills - about which She is having to be very creative.

Pixie did seem to be a bit better - but yesterday and today she has been very quiet and subdued. She has taken the sad, sad news about our dear friend, Admiral Hestorb, very hard - as have we all.The Admiral was a tower of strength for Us - when I, Possum, was sick last year and now, when Pixie needed encouragement. We shall miss her sorely.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Weekend Update

Greetings, Fellow Felines!

Possum here. Pixie had a very bad week. On Tuesday, our Human made good on her threat to take her to the v-e-t to have her teeth and gums checked. The v-e-t said he couldn't find any problem there. There is some plaque on her teeth but not that much, nor could he find any mouth ulcers. He gave Mummy some appetite-enhancing capsules for her and told her to open them and mix the contents with Pixie's food. He also gave her a prescription for three different kinds of medication, some to be taken as often as three times a day! But the appetite-enhancing medicine made Pixie throw up and she refuses to take the other pills. Mummy doesn't know what to do. She says Pill Pockets aren't available in Israel, so she tried to concoct some homemade Pill Pockets, by wrapping the pill fragments (like, a quarter pill 3 times a day) in smoked salmon. But Pixie got suspicious and refused to take the bait. And when she tries to force them down Pixie's throat, Pixie just spits them out. I used to do that too, when I was sick last year.
Pixie wants a word now. Over to you, Pixie.

Pixie here, Fellow Felines!

I think Mummy is trying to poison me! She took me to the  v-e-t and he said I was in a very bad way. It's true, I was feeling very bad. My tummy hurts a lot and I often feel nauseous. He gave her some medications for me and a prescription for 3 other kinds of pill. He also gave her a very tasty new kind of food for me but he said only to give me a little (because it's not food for kitties with kidney disease, it's food designed to trick a kitty into eating). Well, Fellow Felines, when we got home, she mixed an evil-tasting powder into the food and because it was something I'd never tasted before (it contains pork!) and also, because it smelled so good, I fell into the trap and ate quite a lot of it before the taste hit me! Fellow Felines, it was awful! It made me feel really sick and I vomited the whole lot.UGH!
The next day, she came home with three different kinds of pill, white ones and pink ones and orange ones - and a thingy for slicing them, because I'm supposed to have a quarter white pill twice a day, a quarter orange pill three times a day and a third of a pink pill three times a day. That's a lot of pills. She tried forcing them down my throat, because of course, I wouldn't take them. She knows I spit them out, so she has tried holding my mouth shut for a few minutes. But I outwitted her. I held them under my tongue and then, when she let me go, I spat them out. A couple of times, they partially melted in my mouth and I might have swallowed a bit. 
She says that if I take them, my tummy will feel better and I won't feel nauseous.  Today, she tried to trick me again. She offered me little rolled up balls of smoked salmon. But I won't fall into that trap again.I remember that white powder.
Fellow Felines, as Possum has told you, I have had a bad week. Often, I feel a bit better at weekends, because Mummy can spend lots more time with me and feed me several times a day, smaller amounts, but I feel I may be called to the Bridge much sooner than we all thought and hoped. In case I don't get a chance to talk to you again, I want to tell you all how much I love you and value your Friendship.