Today I noticed that piper (our surviving cat of 14 years) was breathing very shallow and quickly. At first I thought she might just be about to throw up or something, but it continued for most of the day. Once my wife returned home, looked her over, and called the vet we headed over.
I really expected some basic news, a short to medium term fix, and for her to return back to her normal (but not perfect) health soon. Unfortunately, the vet said that it was likely the beginning of the end due to congestive heart failure, and we needed to make the very hard decision soon.
We weren't able to do it then, so he gave her some medication and we brought her home. I'm doing my best to keep her comfortable and happy, hoping the drugs will kick in enough to make her feel relatively normal soon (2 hours or so since, and she's breathing a little easier but not a lot).
We have an appointment with the practice's other vet tomorrow morning to get a second opinion and once again confront the hard decision. If she lives through the night, we'll have to make the call on how high her quality of life will be. The problem is not fixable, so it is only a question of when and under what circumstances.
We adopted her and her brother Lysander a couple months after getting married 14 years ago. Since then we've lived in a condo, a townhouse, and two houses, and they were our wonderful companions. Lysander went missing a few years ago, he was always an avid outdoor cat and hunter and probably fell prey to racoons or coyotes.
It is very hard to imagine what life will be like without either of them being part of our daily routine. I didn't deal well with Lysander's disappearance, but some of that was likely the lack of closure and the self blame (after all, I'm the one who let him out that night). With piper I'm able to say goodbye, at least.
Still, no doubt I'll be a total mess. Glad I have such a great wife to lean on. She's still in good health AFAIK.
PS - I couldn't post this entry for a while due to MSN Spaces wackiness, but now that that's resolved I should add this update: she's resting, she seems comfortable and I think her breathing has slowed down some.