Caroline, I"m sorry to hear of your loss. I know it is hard to lose a wonderful
friend.
Marie
"MacKenzie, Kerry N." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
.hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM:
0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma } Oh Caroline, I am so, so sorry. Brumley was
such a special, brave little fellow, such a trooper. And you were surely his
guardian angel. You really did him proud. No one could have done more for
Brumley than you did---no one. It's really amazing and wonderful that he was so
content and loving of life right up till almost the last moment. He obviously
knew how loved he was. What an inspiration his example is. And yours, too,
Caroline--thanks for everything you did for your little sweetie foster kitten.
Wish there were more in the world like you. much love and big hugs, Kerry
---------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline
Kaufmann
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:06 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Brumley is gone
Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is
gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his
very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the "condo" at
the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he
was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds
and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue
forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom
and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who
was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain
his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased
and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the
18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped
interacting with his environment and doing the small
little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he
fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved,
sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat
soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end.
I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet
even said to me about 5 different times that he would "drag his feet" on this
one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was
such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet
drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering?
But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was
perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after
somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing
in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have
done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was
concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good
or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was
my typical evening of treating, medicating,
feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in
his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning
routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His
little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was
obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my
arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He
was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid.
So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same
one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in
until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I
think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of
being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him
b/c he really liked this cat.
The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my
2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were
next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye),
his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She
said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she
doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of
it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done.
It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out
there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a
vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot
to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with
him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard
in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went
to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly. The vet gave me a hug and
told me I did a good job.
Honestly, I am exhausted. I have been doing very intensive care on Brumley and
it has taken up all of my mornings and my entire evening. I would get up, take
care of Brum, go to work, come home, take care of Brum, go to bed, and it would
start again the next day. So mentally and physically, I am just worn out. But
I know that- especially being a foster cat- Brumley got more care and better
care than he ever would have if I had not intervened. In his short, sad little
life, he never got frustrated, he never got mad and I don't really think he
knew he was sick, but he definitely knew love and had things in this world
that- for a very brief time- made him happy and made his existence better.
I have offered his body to his vet who's been treating him since Jan. b/c he
had a special interest in Brum and I wanted to make the offer in case he wants
to do a necropsy or just take a look at the eye. So maybe we will get some
answers, maybe not. If he doesn't want to do a necropsy, then I will leave it
at that.
Thank you to all who cared and helped me with Brumley's extremely difficult
case. Oddly enough, I had a dream about Monkee last night and I haven't
dreamed about him in a while. Yes, I think about him every single day, but he
hasn't visited me in a dream as clear as he did last night in a long time. As
soon as my mom woke me up to tell me Brumley was not doing well, I knew it was
time because I think Monkee came to me to tell me it was time and he was coming
to take Brumley home.
Caroline K.
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