1995 - 2009
We've never loved a pet so much. He was a central part of our lives for thirteen years. He was a wonderful little guy. He went through so much in is little cat life - burned his foot on the stove, suffered from a blocked bladder, had monthly seizures until they were suppressed with Phenobarbitol, and finally suffered acute renal failure and his one partially working kidney was not filtering the IV fluids he was being given. He could no longer be a self-sufficient cat, and we had to put him to sleep on January 2nd 2009. All of the doctors he saw in his last week alive all said that his case wasn't brought on by the food he ate on Monday December 27th, but I know he was acting A-OK before I bought a new bag of Iams. He had been eating Iams Multi-Cat formula for years, and that Sunday I bought a bag of ProActive Health Active Maturity Formula. His first meal out of this bag was breakfast on Monday. I had to leave town on business that day after feeding him breakfast, but Greg told me that he had vomited shortly after eating. Greg gave him some soft food that we had in the house (also Iams) and Gilbert seemed a little better Tuesday morning. I had not put 2 and 2 together that the new bag of food was really making him sick, and fed him breakfast out of the new bag on Tuesday december 28th. He vomited much later in the day, around 6pm. I took the bag of Iams back to the store and bought him some Newman's Own Organic cat food. He ate some of this food late Tuesday evening and he began drinking water much later that night. On Wednesday morning his condition seemed worse, and he was not walking around or meowing for breakfast. I offered him some organic soft food and he licked it a little but, but could not eat. I took him to the vet, and the thought he had another blockage, put him on IV fluids and a catheter, and referred me to a 24 Emergency Clinic for further treatment. In just 5 short days he would be gone. It just isn't fair that little Gilbert got such a raw deal, and that no other alternatives to euthanasia are available to a cat suffering from renal failure. His kidney ultrasound showed that one kidney was very small, had a lot of tissue damage and was most likely not working at all. His right kidney was over sized in order to compensate for the smaller left kidney. How long he had had this problem is anyone's guess. I just wish I had listened to the vet when he had his Phenobarb levels checked in October. She recommended soft food for him since it has a higher moisture content than the dry food. I don't know why I didn't listen. A cat shouldn't have to go through such things. If he hadn't been neutered, he probably wouldn't have had the urinary tract problems that he did. If only I had know these things, a lot of his pain could have been avoided. If I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn't have had him neutered and I would have made sure he ate the best cat food that was available. I didn't know that Cat Chow was not good for cats to eat. I didn't know that Eukanuba and Iams were part of the same food provider, and were most likely poisoning my cat ever so slowly. He lived thirteen years, but I wish there could have been with us longer, and not had to endure so much while he was alive. Gilbert was such a great cat and constant companion, I should have had a tribute to him while he was alive. |
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