Our little furbaby

This week has proved to be a little more emotional than we were prepared for. Kaia went in to the vet on Monday morning after not eating or drinking for a few days. She was quite lethargic. They determined that she was having bowel issues again, and this time had to sedate her to treat her. The vet confirmed that Kaia has megacolon, which is fairly common in older cats, but is odd to see in a 3-year-old. Megacolon is where the nerves and the muscles in the colon basically stop functioning properly. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this condition, only a daily treatment. We would have to give Kaia medicine by mouth every day for the rest of her life, and even that provides no guarantee that she won't still require several trips to the vet each year to keep her system moving properly. Not to mention that Kaia is not a fan of any of these medicines that "cats just love", so a daily regimen of cornering her and forcing her to take medicine is certainly not our first choice.

While we were debating our options for her, Kaia did not recover properly from her sedation, so she went back to the vet today for fluids and an appetite stimulant. As hard as it is, we've both begun to realize that it isn't fair to Kaia to put her through this for years on end. Having said that, however, we are a little selfish and are hoping we can at least have our furbaby back to her old self and at home for a few days so our last memories with her are not of her being sick and reclusive. The vet is going to keep Kaia overnight tonight to see how she progresses. We will know in the morning if we can take her home for a few days, or if its simply time to let her go.

Its amazing how quickly our animals become so precious in our lives. We brought Kaia home from the shelter in the spring of 2006, just a few months after we were married. She was only 6 months old at the time. To us she will always be our first "baby". On the first day we brought her home she promptly ran behind the fridge in our apartment and climbed inside a small nook behind it. Justin was at work so I had to pull out the fridge by myself and pry her out. When she was only a few weeks old Kaia got curious and starting snooping around a plastic grocery sack that still had a few items in it. The handle of the bag caught around her neck, spooking her, and causing her to dash under the couch. Unfortunately, the items in the bag wouldn't fit under the couch and Kaia was promptly clothes-lined around the neck. Ever since that day she has HATED plastic grocery bags.

Its hard to accept that we will probably have to let her go while she is still so young.