sad news. Raku is dead. Raku was bulbcat #2, my flashllight protector, and one of the nicest, coolest cats you could meet. so otherwordly in fact sometimes i'd think of him as a little man in a cat costume. he really was that different. he had such a sweet nature and never clawed at anyone that i know of.
he displayed some breathing problems at the end of August standing with his elbows out. his lungs weren't filling to capacity and not enough air was getting in to his body. the vet determined that an X-ray was needed but to put him under when he was only getting about 10% of the oxygen he should have been breathing was too dangerous. they put him in an oxygen tent overnight before performing the X-ray the next morning and unfortunately found "something" in his chest area that could possibly have been a tumor.
Raku and i100ml of chyle (a milky fluid) was removed from his lungs and he seemed to perk up, although he'd initially alternate one bad day then one good day. Raku then appeared to be on the mend and the family started to get their hopes up. even last Saturday i was thinking that maybe we should let him out again (he was kept inside since the trip to the vet). he was jumping on to the front window ledge and even playing games with our other cat Pushkin.
sadly my beautiful boy was unable to roam free again, he developed major breathing difficulties on monday morning and was rushed to the vet by my father and younger brother to be put down. we had the option of trying to drain his lungs again, but that would have been just a selfish motive. of course we wanted to keep him but we knew his days were numbered two weeks ago. we were just fortunate to have had a little more time with him and thankfully his suffering was mercifully short.
Raku with shaved patch behind right elbow. x
5 comments:
Ohhhh, Raku. I'm so sorry. I can't even image how hard this must be. My 1st pet (Kuta) is 8 years old now and I dread the day that I'll have to say goodbye. I dread it so much that I obsess about it sometimes. Yuck.
I have been staying with my brother for the last two weeks and have bonded with his cats. I'm not much of a cat person, but when a little kitty crawls onto your chest, curls up and starts purring, you can't help but feel the love...
thanks Summer, Yashi and Wiggly are great. Kuta is too i'm sure, but i'll bet he could curl up on your chest and start sleeping. way to big!
zen buddhism would say forget about the future and just enjoy ethe moment with Kuta. the buddhist priest likenened it to someone learning to walk, place your awareness too far forward, you trip up, place your awareness too far back, and you fall back. awareness on the present and, hey presto you are stable.
buddhism promotes a certain detachment, but it's nigh on impossible not to get attached to the furry ones.
Ah mate, I'm so sorry to that, what a lovely boy Raku was. I still miss my boy too, it's been nearly a year since he suddenly died, and at the tender age of 6/7 :(
But, what do we do aye, but remember the good times, the love, the "so happy to see you" manner when you get home... and balance that with the now and the future :)
Bless you Raku. And I hope BulbBoy and BulbBird are doing OK :)
thanks Lever. Huey looked pretty cool too, almost a distant cousin of Raku.
not sure it was "so happy to see you," but more of "what! my food isn't out yet."
Hi Iain, Thanks for the comment! I'd not heard about HitlerCats before, but it explains a lot about Wimsey's behaviour...;-)
Sorry to hear about Raku :-( I don't think I ever met him, but he looks like a lovely cat.
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