Goodbye Milan

Early this morning, we said goodbye to our kitty.  

We noticed yesterday after I go home from work that she was acting distressed.  It was her lil song and dance for a furball, we thought, and gave her some time to cough it up.  I tried feeding her treats that help with this, but she refused.  I got a few bits down her, much to her annoyance.  I gave up and just watched her.  She'd sit there without moving and then I noticed her breathing wasn't normal this time.  It was the last straw when she raced across the room to pee (yowling in distress, not sure if it was pain or not) and didn't quite make it.  

I packed her up in her carrier and took her to the vet.  She was becoming less responsive.  They did initial tests, x-rays, and nothing showed what she was going through.  The vet suggested blood tests and I agreed.  While taking her blood, they found her bp was 240.  They realized that this was probably a stroke that she was going through.  They gave her bp meds, but which take a long time to take effect.  She was even less responsive now, but there really wasn't much they could do till the blood tests came back from the lab the next morning.   They told me to prepare myself for the worst. I took her home and made sure she was warm and comfortable.  We said our goodbyes and then I waited.  She was deteriorating pretty fast, yowling weirdly, little twitches, labored breathing, but just laying there unable to move.  I knew this was it and hoped it would be fast.

She started to seizure a little more forcefully and I called the vet to bring her in again (they said to if she seizured).  Only a little over an hour had passed since I'd brought her home.  I put her in her carrier and she seizured pretty big a couple of times.  We headed out the door and all was quiet when I put her in the car.  I knew then that she had passed away.  I was afraid to look.  Thank goodness the emergency vet is close.  I walked in in tears and they took her away.  I saw her and its amazing how one look can confirm that she had passed away.  It was almost 1am. We had her cremated and they took a clay print of her paw for me.  

It was so incredibly quick.  I was thankful that I had canceled my sub job for the next day so I could sleep in (as best I could).  Within 9 hours of symptoms, she had died.  She had pain meds as well, but since it was brain hemorrage that she was struggling with, she wouldn't have felt pain anyway.

Our kitty has had mild neurological issues before, mild, unresponsive times (just a few seconds at a time) before, or weird moments of distressed yowling for no apparent reason.  It was never enough to cause any alarm.  We just thought it was kind of silly/annoying. We also found out that she's actually borderline elderly and that she most likely had hypertension the last several years.  When her bp would go up too much, she'd act just a tiny bit weird, I think.  Yesterday, it sky-rocketed and bp medication was either too late or simply ineffective once stroke set in and the bleeding on the brain continued.  Since she had died before the blood tests were analyzed, we just skipped it, so I suppose we don't know for SURE what happened, but its a pretty good guess.

It was a very long hard night for me.  Micah was trying to sleep because he had work the next day, but he's been my rock through this.  He got off work early and bought me orchids and made me food.  This weekend I go to Brinnon with my family and it will be a nice escape.

Milan was our cuddlebug.  She was always up for hugs, kisses, loves, and naps with you.  She LOVED her "peoples" and she loved attention.  She will always have a special place in our hearts. We will always treasure the almost year and a half that we had with her.