He was fine - completely fine. A normal almost 11 month old kitten who loved life and torturing the dogs and older cats. Wednesday we went to sleep with Cole loudly purring on the pillow, making bread, and just loving on me, and his Daddy. He is being typical Cole. Cole is an indoor kitty who is current on all of his vaccinations. I have had him since he was 1 week old. I bottle raised him. This is my child.
Thursday, we awake to find that someone had vomited on the floor of the bedroom. Not sure who it was since there were 2 other cats in the same room and those two are elderly CRD patients who frequently vomit. Early afternoon, I actually see Cole vomit and it is all bile. I gave him a Pepcid AC to help settle his tummy, but it did no good, and he vomited again. Several times over the day, he vomits bile. I took his temperature and it was only 102, so I was not too worried. I make an appointment with his veterinarian for the next morning. I gave him 100cc of SubQ fluids to help counteract any possible dehydration from the vomiting.
Friday, we are at the vet's office as soon as she opens. Cole has a fever of 106.1. The vet is pretty sure he has some sort of a bacterial infection. Probably from playing rough with Zeus and maybe getting nipped. She gives him a shot of Baytril, (strong antibiotic), and one of Cerina, (for the vomiting). Blood is taken and a snap test for FeLV and FIV are both done and are as negative as they had been when done previously in his life. (She has been his vet since he had his first vaccination at age 6 weeks and has tested him before for FeLV and FIV). She also takes more blood in order to check his chem panel and run a CBC. She will call me later with the results, but she thinks he is going to be perfectly fine. He is purring, his mucous membranes look good, his pelt is glossy, his pulse rate is good, his respiration cannot be heard as he is purring too loudly. She will call me later, she says...
By 3PM, I have still heard nothing, so I call back. I am told that something is wrong with the machine - the readings are too odd. The readings make no sense, the readings say that Cole has no white blood cells - so blood has been sent out to an independent lab and someone is coming to fix the machine in the morning. "His results read as Incompatible with life" - the tech says, and laughs. Dr. DeWitt will call me back, I am told.
Friday night, we go to bed. Cole is on his pillow, between me and his Daddy. He is purring, he is hugging my wrist with his arms, he pillows his head with the back of my left hand - he is obviously ill, but he wants to be with us on the bed. Around 1AM, I wake up to go to the bathroom, he is still purring, still on the pillow. I stroke him and tell him I love him, then I go back to sleep. 3AM my hubby wakes to go to the bathroom. Cole is laying on the bathroom floor. Hubby puts Cole back on the bed when he leaves the bathroom. 6:20AM, hubby wakes because the dogs want to go out to potty. Cole is on the floor. Hubby reaches down to pick him up to put him on the bed... but Cole is dead.
We take Cole to the pet crematory this morning and then went straight to the vet's office afterward. I want answers. I want to know why did my baby die? The outside blood results have still not returned. The machine is still broken. They can tell me nothing. I am promised that as soon as they know something, they will call me. 1 hour ago, I finally get the call. The outside results have come in - the machine was repaired and once again, provides the same reading - Cole has no white blood cells. NONE. Cole has NO WHITE BLOOD CELLS. Cole had no immune system, period. Cole is one of the rarest of the rare - a cat who has actual leukemia. NOT FeLV - but real leukemia - like human children sometimes get. In 34 years of practice, she has seen this only one other time. Sadly, even had we known before, there would have been nothing that could have been done to save him. There are no bone marrow transplants for cats. Cole had no immune system and a simple bacterial infection has killed him.
My baby is dead.
Knowing why he is dead does not change how I feel. It dies not make anything better.
I am broken inside. I feel as if someone has reached into my chest and yanked out my heart.
Thursday, we awake to find that someone had vomited on the floor of the bedroom. Not sure who it was since there were 2 other cats in the same room and those two are elderly CRD patients who frequently vomit. Early afternoon, I actually see Cole vomit and it is all bile. I gave him a Pepcid AC to help settle his tummy, but it did no good, and he vomited again. Several times over the day, he vomits bile. I took his temperature and it was only 102, so I was not too worried. I make an appointment with his veterinarian for the next morning. I gave him 100cc of SubQ fluids to help counteract any possible dehydration from the vomiting.
Friday, we are at the vet's office as soon as she opens. Cole has a fever of 106.1. The vet is pretty sure he has some sort of a bacterial infection. Probably from playing rough with Zeus and maybe getting nipped. She gives him a shot of Baytril, (strong antibiotic), and one of Cerina, (for the vomiting). Blood is taken and a snap test for FeLV and FIV are both done and are as negative as they had been when done previously in his life. (She has been his vet since he had his first vaccination at age 6 weeks and has tested him before for FeLV and FIV). She also takes more blood in order to check his chem panel and run a CBC. She will call me later with the results, but she thinks he is going to be perfectly fine. He is purring, his mucous membranes look good, his pelt is glossy, his pulse rate is good, his respiration cannot be heard as he is purring too loudly. She will call me later, she says...
By 3PM, I have still heard nothing, so I call back. I am told that something is wrong with the machine - the readings are too odd. The readings make no sense, the readings say that Cole has no white blood cells - so blood has been sent out to an independent lab and someone is coming to fix the machine in the morning. "His results read as Incompatible with life" - the tech says, and laughs. Dr. DeWitt will call me back, I am told.
Friday night, we go to bed. Cole is on his pillow, between me and his Daddy. He is purring, he is hugging my wrist with his arms, he pillows his head with the back of my left hand - he is obviously ill, but he wants to be with us on the bed. Around 1AM, I wake up to go to the bathroom, he is still purring, still on the pillow. I stroke him and tell him I love him, then I go back to sleep. 3AM my hubby wakes to go to the bathroom. Cole is laying on the bathroom floor. Hubby puts Cole back on the bed when he leaves the bathroom. 6:20AM, hubby wakes because the dogs want to go out to potty. Cole is on the floor. Hubby reaches down to pick him up to put him on the bed... but Cole is dead.
We take Cole to the pet crematory this morning and then went straight to the vet's office afterward. I want answers. I want to know why did my baby die? The outside blood results have still not returned. The machine is still broken. They can tell me nothing. I am promised that as soon as they know something, they will call me. 1 hour ago, I finally get the call. The outside results have come in - the machine was repaired and once again, provides the same reading - Cole has no white blood cells. NONE. Cole has NO WHITE BLOOD CELLS. Cole had no immune system, period. Cole is one of the rarest of the rare - a cat who has actual leukemia. NOT FeLV - but real leukemia - like human children sometimes get. In 34 years of practice, she has seen this only one other time. Sadly, even had we known before, there would have been nothing that could have been done to save him. There are no bone marrow transplants for cats. Cole had no immune system and a simple bacterial infection has killed him.
My baby is dead.
Knowing why he is dead does not change how I feel. It dies not make anything better.
I am broken inside. I feel as if someone has reached into my chest and yanked out my heart.
