A few hours ago, I had to ease my beautiful cat boy over the Rainbow Bridge.
A week ago, tonight, he seemed a little stand-offish and only ate about half his dinner. On Sunday, he refused to come on the back porch to eat, so I brought him inside and decided to take him to the vet for a check. He was his typical self; yelling loudly and banging against the bedroom door to be freed. We saw the vet Monday afternoon and they discovered he had a high fever. Did blood work and saw nothing out of line. So, they gave him a steroid shot and put him on antibiotics.
Things were good that evening and Tuesday. He didn't feel as warm and he was eating about 50% of his meals. Wednesday, he got quieter and made a hideout under the bed. He still liked to be held and purred loudly. But he stopped eating. Thursday was the same, so I called an made an appointment for 8AM, Friday.
His temperature was 103. More blood tests still showed nothing abnormal. Test for FIV came back negative. They gave him liquids, another steroid shot, and added take home prednisone and a second antibiotic. I got about 2 Tablespoons of chicken baby food down him via syringe.
Today, at around 3, he suddenly cried out and I recognized pain in that. I immediately rushed to our emergency clinic about 15 miles away. They put him on oxygen and IV and then the doctor told me the worse. His temp was down to 98 degrees and he was 'crashing'. His organs were shutting down. The doctor said he wouldn't live another 2 hours. They suspected it was Bobcat Fever and he had almost 0% of recovery even though they worked up a $1500 medical estimate to try and save him.
I went into shock. I had to get my ex-DIL on the phone to help me through. I knew I had to release my sweet boy from pain. It was all horrible. To have a healthy cat lose 1/3 of his weight in 6 days and go into lung and heart failure, seems like a bad dream.
Mellow (officially, Marshmellow) showed up one day at my house in April 2009. I was just going through my radiation treatment for my Stage IV tonsil cancer. He stayed. He was semi feral not liking anyone new to be around. But he would roll over on his back for tummy rubs and ear scratches when he saw me. And boy could he purr. The last purrs I heard were at 12:30 this afternoon. The other 3 abandoned cats took to him and my little colony of ferals was registered with the city. All were neutered and vaccinated. I'm now down to 2. My oldest was killed by a dog running loose in July 2015.
I think I'm rambling. I just want you to know I loved Mellow and my heart is broken.
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it's the price of love 
Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears,
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you -
I loved you so -
'twas Heaven here with you
~Isla Paschal Richardson
Remember the full life you gave him...
It is very, very sad when we lose our loved ones. Be kind to yourself and try not to take on too much too soon. 
They really are our everything and nothing can prepare us for the loss. I hope you find comfort in the memories he left behind. My heart breaks for you and Mellow.
I never heard of the bobcat fever that took him down. Peace to you and good memories
You must be a wreck not just the big loss but how sudden it all came on and what happened next
My sincere sympathy 
Take care
I’m crying with you.
And peace to you, sinkingfeeling
At least he was lucky enough to have a loving kitty parent.
Sounds like you and Mellow had some good years.
Grieving with you.
We are currently doing cancer hospice with our cat BB(Butter Brickle).
Prayers.
...
You did everything right, everything you could. The world just seems surreal to you now -- that's how losing my dear babies felt. You know it'll take awhile to work thru your pain. Lean on whomever can feel your pain.
Mellow.
So hard to lose a loved one.
Do the best we can to give em a loving and good life. Letting them go is the hard part that I'll never get used to. I'm with you, sinkingfeeling, and all of you who know this pain.
I like to think of my sweet boy, Elbee, showing Mellow the best lounging limbs and spots under the neighboring houses. ❤️
Tikki
