Sadness has filled our house today. Romeo, our 17 year old Maine Coon is deathly sick. He suffers from Chronic Heart Failure in his advanced age, it doesn't slow him down one bit, other than he has a cough from time to time.
We were blessed with another kitty yesterday, and she has been trying to love every cat of mine she sees. That's not working out too swell right now, they will adjust quickly but it has only been one day. She needs lots of love and attention, she has her own list of troubles. I'm very blessed to know her.
Romeo was kind and gentle enough last night to allow her to snuggle up to him and sleep, he is both kind and understanding. He sat with Mrs. K last night for a very long while, something he has not done in a minute. She chose to stay with him until he left so she was able to be with him a long time last night.
To our shock and horror this morning I had to go find him in the woods next door and carry him home. He was severely impacted with respiratory distress, and it was clearly uncertain if he would make the day. I got in touch with the vet and secured a large dose of broad spectrum long acting ABX and a week of Lasix to pull the water off him and ease his breathing to lower his distress. After about six hours of "nursing" so to speak he seemed to turn the corner and start improving slightly... At one point this morning his breathing had become extremely labored and quick and shallow with a very low O2 content. His gums and tongue blanched out white...we were both heartbroken as it seemed today really would be the beginning of his decline. After listening to him with my ears it was very clear he was in a big pickle, and I desperately wanted to help but felt helpless...it frustrated the shit outa me to the point my eyes leaked a bit.
We both know that his time is shorter than it was yesterday, and its bitter sweet to find a very special new friend and then turn around the next day and realize your about to loose your oldest one...... Today has been both difficult and wrought with hard choices and conversations. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day for us all.
Thank you all for listening, I really, really needed to tell my story today..
he never keeps his tongue in his mouth anymore lol....