Oh God, not again.

[MissConductUS]

My lovely girl Autumn, only 8 years old, has been acting poorly for the last few days - not eating, hiding in the house more than usual. She slept on our bed last night which is unusual. I knew something was wrong, so I roused DH at 4:00 AM this morning and we drove her to the nearest 24 hour emergency veterinary practice. The doctor there said given the poor circulation in her hind legs and other symptoms it was likely cardiomyopathy with a saddle thrombosis. She offered to do tests but I preferred having them done by her regular vet, who would open at 7:30.

So back home, then off again to the regular vet, who kept her for diagnostics. He called me when they had blood work done. She's in renal failure and has liver dysfunction too. She's due to get an an ultrasound within the hour to confirm everything, but she's likely in organ failure due to the cardiovascular disease and we'll have to let her go later today.

My heart is breaking. She is such a sweet girl, and has always been my 17 year old daughter's cat. She is leaving us so young and so swiftly. DS is off at uni so we'll have to Facetime with him tonight to give him the completely unexpected news.

Godspeed, dear Autumn.

Just a bit of a handhold please.

What lovely words. And so true.

Thank you and my sincere condolences to others who have lost their lovely cats.

DD told me that she was worried that Autumn would pass away after she left for uni in two years, so it was some comfort that she could be here for her now. We went to Easter services this morning, which was a good way to get out of the house and focus on something else. DH, who is quite involved in our church, had emailed our priest to let her know what had happened and she offered to come by the house and bless Autumn's ashes once we have them back (it's a very progressive church). I think that will be a comfort as well.

Thank you ladies, you've all been lovely.

What a lovely thing for your priest to offer to come to do, MissConductUS. How is Autumn's brother doing? Take care.

NewModelArmyMayhem18, her brother, whose name is Mingus, seems to be okay. He is primarily DS's cat and when DS went off to uni last fall, he did seem lost at sea about it. He kept wandering into DS's room looking for him.

This time he's seeking some extra cuddles but doesn't seem confused about what happened. I think he understood that his sister was very ill.

MissConductUS I think cats have really good instincts about such things. Glad Mingus is holding up. Have you got a lovely photo of Autumn you could frame and put somewhere you will see it often - that's what we did. It helped and still does.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 that's great advice about the photo, thanks. We're getting her ashes back in a nice wooden box that has a place on the front to put a small photo, but I'd like to have a bigger one on the wall as well.

I'm so sorry. It's heartbreaking when we have to do this final kindness.

MissConductUS - hope it helps. It has also made us realise how important it is to have a good range of photos of one's pets, although it can sometimes be a challenge to get good shots.

NewModel now that I've had a look at my laptop at home I've found dozens of lovely pictures of Autumn, going back to the day we brought her home. I almost didn't post the one at the top of the thread as it is so fuzzy and poorly lite. It was just the only one I had on my phone.

We have one other, older cat named Daisy, so I'll make sure I have lots of good pictures of her. She likes to climb halfway up the Christmas tree and hide in the branches, so I know I have lots of those pictures of her.

I read somewhere that when a pet dies you lose a piece of your heart, but the next one gives you a piece of theirs and thus over the many years your heart becomes more loving, open and trusting, just as theirs are.

I strongly believe that when one of our pets passes, they send someone that needs you as much as they did. It certainly happened with our dogs. She will make sure you have who you need.

💐💕

So sorry for the loss of your dear cat, she was a beauty.