Pet Grub

Dear Jesse,

I wrote you back in 2010 between Thanksgiving and X–Mas. My cat Karlosakitty was losing a great deal of weight and had a sore on his tail that was not healing.

I was mostly concerned about the weight loss as I figured he couldn't heal being so frail.

I took your suggestion to try a raw meat diet and did the crushed egg shell in with it. He was not very receptive at first. Chunks of raw steak or chicken were licked at then he would sit by the bowl furtively and wait till to see if there was to be anything he considered edible to be presented. I came upon a roll of chopped dark meat turkey in a roll that I had been given from a neighbor, and like them wasn't sure what I would cook with it so on the off chance he might like it gave him some.

WOW! i thought he was going to drown himself, smacking noises lil' growls and when he came up for air he had it all over his nose, face and whiskers.

He never developed a taste for much else other than occasionally raw hamburger, the sirloin or lean, but he did gain some weight back. His eyes cleared after a day or 2 and he slept easily and longer, and the bad smell coming from his body left. He smelled sweet and kitty like I had always known.

When the weather started getting warmer I gave him pedialyte flavorless mixed with some water several times a day to insure proper hydration because he was still under weight, and appeared to not be gaining any more. He had dryish fur and the skin did not return when pinched or pulled. The pedialyte fixed it.

The sore never healed so we kept it bandaged like a little tootsie roll with light breathable gauze the ends taped tighter to keep him from pulling off the bandage and negating the need for an Elizabethan collar on all the time, which would have been distressing for him and awkward especially being still under normal weight. He slept beneath the covers with me molded to my body, head on my shoulder, little arm wrapped around my neck, just like the last 11 years. We had Xmas, and Valentine's day, and Easter.

Right after Easter I noticed a change, and not for the better. I had to sit with him while he ate and had to keep stirring the food to keep him interested and eating.

The weight he had gained started to slip away and the sore looked worse instead of the same, and started to smell bad. One of my younger cats started hanging near him all the time and slept close by him when he napped on the couch — watching over him almost day and night.

He could no longer sleep right next to me. I think the weight of the covers became distressing as he would moan and cry softly when either myself or my husband jiggled the bed rolling over.

I put a special pillow at the head above my pillow and he slept there with his arm hanging down in hair or holding my finger.

When my husband went to the hospital for emergency surgery last week and my neighbor/friend came over to help me change his bandage she insisted on paying to take him into the vet. I had to know. I would never want him to hurt or linger in suffering whatever the problem, and if it was a fixable problem she was my angel and would help me pay for it and i could pay it back later.

The vet said it was necrotic tumor and that the end of the tail was dead. He said he would amputate the tail end and with meds and antibiotics he would recover... but he asked if I would allow him to do a body XRay first. He didn't want to put the kitty through the surgery and charge me for it if the cancer had spread to the rest of the body.

Karlosakitty had cancer everywhere by this time, lungs, stomach. The vet indicated he could maybe make him comfortable for a month or more but it was more like medicated than comfortable he was now in pain all the time. Dr Babcock was very kind and his nurses where very sweet. They had a beautiful flowered blanket and they left us alone for as long as I needed to say goodbye. He had a little shot while I held him, he was purring and he relaxed immediately then sighed and did not move, the purring had stopped, he was gone. They held the body for me over the weekend so I could get a place ready to bury him. Placed him wrapped in a towel in a small little white coffin shaped box, and made a little clay plaque with his paw print name and the date had it fired and framed to take with me when I picked my friend up.

I want you to know that I am grateful for the advice and diet you recommended. My dearest friend and I had 7 months more to love and appreciate one another. He felt better and comfortable, it was not 7 months spent suffering, it was quality time and though we both new somehow that it was temporary it gave us time (me especially) the time to adjust to the idea we would be apart soon... time to make sure he knew that I recognized how very very special he really was, pay extra attention to him.

I miss him every minute and can hardly wait until my time comes so that can see that sweet face again. I have 7 other cats and Love each of them for who they are, every relationship is as different as they are. They love me and adore me and then they go have their little cat lives within our home with one another. Karlosakitty's life was with me. He didn't interact with the little colony. He watched, was passive never aggressive, his business was to watch over me. That is why everyone called him my Kat–huz–bun. He was never jealous of my attention to them, he knew we were married... silly huh?

Thank you Jesse for the 7 months I do not think I would have had and for knowing he was content and enjoyed those months being with me, they were a precious gift to be sure.

Andrea — Phoenix, Arizona

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