And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest

I am very sad today. My heart feels a little more broken. Last night at about 10:50pm, Shaman breathed her last on our bed. In December she'd had to take antibiotics because her kidney enzymes were too high. That was fixed easily enough. Then, on January 29th, I found out she had hyperthyroidism like Miri. Well, no big deal, right? We can treat that. She didn't like taking pills again but it was ok. That week we got another cat to be her playmate so she'd get more exercise. I'll write about Hydona more in another blog. Well, Shaman was doing fine until last Wednesday. She started throwing up. Nowhere nearly as bad as Miri but I wasn't wasting time and took her to the vet. A different doc said she had some kind of intestinal bug so he prescribed Hill's ID formula. That was supposed to be mild enough to help flush out her system. Problem was she stopped eating on Saturday. She was still drinking but wouldn't do more than sniff at food. I took her back on Monday and saw her original vet (who is very nice and very good). There were a few things that could be wrong. She had the lump in her thyroid and some hardening in her intestines. He took blood work and the only thing off besides her thyroid was her white blood cell count. Ok, so she had an infection. They gave her a shot of antibiotics. If there was nothing else, by Tuesday she would be perky and eating. Nope. So we went back Tuesday night. Dr. Blaise was very concerned about the intestines and said that it could be one of two things: cancer or irritable bowel disorder. Either one would respond well to steroid injections. But there was no guarantee. If it was the former, Shaman had a chance of it not working and then we were out of options.

So, he gave her a short term steroid to see if she bounced back. Oh, and they had also hydrated her both days. She had 48 hours to respond to the steroid. Well, about 11a on Wednesday, Shaman threw up again and it was bad. . .blood and a huge clot. She did it again Wednesday afternoon minus the clot. Dr. Blaise wanted me to try feeding her baby food through a syringe so I did in the evening. She didn't throw it up. I kept in contact with the vet via email because he was off. But it didn't look good. However, yesterday morning she was bright eyes and more perky. Well, I have class so I took her with me so I could get more food in her. Shaman did all right at first but then at 1:55p she had diarrhea and it was bloody. So, after that last afternoon class I brought her home and canceled my evening class. Shaman crawled into the bath tub (that was her hiding place for some reason). I kept checking on her. About 8p Michael and I went in and she was laying on her side and had that look. . .the dying look. I've seen it so much in animals that I knew it was nearing the end. So I wrapped her up in the towel I had been using so she could smell me and held her for a while. Then we went into the bedroom and stayed with her. We both petted her and talked to her. She purred for me to let me know she knew I was there. Whenever she was scared I calmed her down. She had one last physical struggle to get up before she settled into a doze and then into permanent rest. We pet her for a little while longer and then I gave Michael one of my t-shirts to wrap her in. We put her in a box and will be burying her in the backyard tonight.

Here is my favorite picture of her:



Shaman had been my "baby" for almost 14 years. Like Miri, she's been with me through a lot. But I was closer to her. Shaman was my cuddle kitty. My stuffed animal kitty. She would sleep with me at night. There were so many when I was restless where she would jump up on my hip and side and that comforting weight helped me go to sleep. Or I would curl up with her purring in my ear. We had a routine. Lots of belly rubs. She loved them and would flop down and rub her paw against her face like an otter when I would say "Gonna get the belly!" Shaman had her own language and would talk to me. Heck, she managed to thaw Michael out towards cats. He didn't realize how much personality they actually have. I know he still prefers dogs but he sees the benefits of having a cat. I'm glad he agreed to let me get Hydona so that I at least have a furry body around to purr at me. But there will never be another Shaman. Well, at least not until she finds me again. Even then she will be different. I am going to miss her so much. But I am glad she died here at home and that we will always have her close by. As I told her last night, she was and always will be the best kitty in the whole world.