Saturday, March 01, 2008

Good Bye Riley


Our big gray kitty, Riley, was very ill and suddenly took a turn for the worse. It was a heart wrenching decision, but when the vet saw just how bad off he was, she was very reassuring that we had made the right choice.

Here is Riley and Rowan... We took this same picture with Russ & Rach : )


Around Christmas we had noticed that Riley seemed different. He was drinking a lot of water and had lost weight. His fur had changed some too. It wasn't as shiny or as thick. We had thought it was just feline diabetes - we have a friend whose cat is afflicted and the whole thing is very doable, so we weren't too concerned. Then we had him tested and it wasn't diabetes, it was something with his liver.




We tried some different medications, did follow up lab work, but he never seemed any better. To do any other tests, like ultrasounds, etc. was going to be very expensive and our vet felt like even if we did spend that money it didn't mean we could save Riley. She felt like his blood test results were so bad that he didn't have much time to live. And any surgery would be out of the question b/c she wouldn't put him under any anesthesia. She didn't think he would come out of it. She was right about his life span, he only made it a few weeks longer. Towards the end he wasn't eating anything and barely drinking. He just laid in our room and slept. Poor guy.




Because he had lost so much weight, the vet examined him and could feel a large tumor on his liver. She hadn't been able to feel it before b/c he was so plump!!




We had him cremated and want to spread his ashes in Vallejo near our old apartment, since that is where we got him.




We had Riley for over 10 years. He was always Adam's cat, he had a thing for Adam!! He was a great cat, very lovable, was terrific with the kids, had a super purrrrrrrr and could eat more than any cat we've ever known! We feel lucky he was ours for so long and that we could give him a happy home while he was on this earth. We really miss him though.

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