I'm so sorry Marlene. Big hugs to you.
Goodnight, sweet Digby.......
=^..^= Terri, Salome', Siggie the Tomato Vampire, Guinevere, Sammi, and 5
furangels: RuthieGirl, Samantha, Arielle, Gareth and Alec =^..^=
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 12:28
PM
Subject: Digby has passed ...
Dear Group,
It is with great sadness that I tell you that Digby
crossed over on Tues. evening (Mar. 24th). I had taken him to the vet
clinic that morning, to obtain some repeat blood work to check his numbers
from the previous week. Our intent was to then take him the next morning
to see his regular vet for a follow-up assessment and results from the blood
tests, and then more than likely make our "decision".
We had been syringe feeding him this past weekend,
since Sat. evening when he just couldn't/wouldn't take anything we had been
hand feeding him. Thankfully, this kept his strength and weight
up. In between feedings, he was comfortable in his various "safe places"
sleeping. Late Tues. afternoon, after he used the litter box he
immediately became winded - laid down on the floor, panting and softly moaning
when he exhaled. I knew that was his "sign" to me. I called my
husband to come home from work and when he arrived we called the vet
clinic. They had run their own PCV (Hematocrit), and it was down to 10%
(N = 24 - 45%). Two of the vets came to the house after we had some time
to spend with Digby. One of the vets had requested to come with the
other one, as she had come here last summer to help our CRF baby "Casper"
cross, and said she wanted to be with us this time as well. We were very
touched by her compassion and concern for us.
Digby passed very peacefully in his favourite spot -
in our bay window on a pillow looking outside at the birds. He gently
laid his head down and closed his eyes. We were so relieved at the
peacefulness and tranquility of it.
That morning, I had discussed our wishes with the vet
clinic. Digby will be separately cremated and his ashes returned to us
in an urn. We made it known to them that if they wished to autopsy him
for tissue samples, etc. to gain perhaps some more insight into Feline
Leukemia, that was O.K. with us. Our thought is that perhaps Digby's
passing can serve some greater good for others suffering with this. They
felt that the Animal Health Lab at the Veterinary College in our province
would be interested in samples, to add the information to their
database. This lab is the one that had done most of Digby's blood
tests.
I will continue to read the posts on this forum, as
our other furbaby Pekoe is also FelV+. He's doing fine healthwise - as
far as we know. I believe he realizes that Digby isn't here anymore, but
I know he'll be fine. Many thanks to all of you for sharing your trials
and tribulations. I would like to share a phrase with you that I came
across just yesterday. I find it very consoling at this time -
"A gentle sleep is sometimes the kindest answer to the most impossible
question of all ..."
Marlene
