the (not-so)year of the cat

another cat has died. this brings this year's total up to 5. first was sue's cat, of kidney disease, if i'm not mistaken (you may remember this post). second was Monty, annette's pride and joy. we think his demise was a stroke from being overweight (but another diagnosis might come later in the blog). then came sue's other, remaining, cat, again of kidney disease (the cats were littermates). fourth was a friend from Michigan, who's cat used to drool when pet (which my cat also does). this cat was older and her time was soon to come, yet it was still sad. and lastly, Checkers.

Checkers has quite a story. she was aquired in 1992, had resided in a crack house in the northwest suburbs. during a drug bust, she had gotten trapped under some heavy furniture and was left for a while before being saved. her right leg was damaged beyond repair and it and her shoulder were removed. she was a one-legged kitten in an animal shelter where my friend's mother worked. she was brought home as a pet for kristin. her fur was still growing back, but she had such a spirit. and man was she fast! she would fetch and she loved q-tips. kristin would come home and find her garbage can had been turned over and all of the kleenex and q-tips had been pilfered. Checkers had been across the country, from Illinois thru Colorado to California and back again. her best nickname is Tripod. she beat up her clawed, four-legged step-sister as often as she could and did a damn good job of it. she wasn't scared of anything.

but this weekend, kristin noticed that she seemed a little skinny. then sunday she was a little lethargic. on monday, Checkers started having seizures on Monday. she came out of each one, but they continued through the night. the vet said to keep her calm and quiet and that they'd have the labs back on tuesday morning. the last few seizures had caused Checkers to lose control of her bodily functions (not unlike monty). they took her back to the vet, where the seizures continued unabated. the vet said that her liver enzymes were extremely elevated and that she had hyperthyroidism, which was probably contributing to her seizures and weight loss. but they couldn't do anything for her. the vet suggested they put her down and that's what they did.

we will always remember you, Checkers.