Kathy,
I've been out of town and just now read about Legolas. I'm so sorry. He sounds so special. I believe with a bond that deep he'll always be with you.
tonya
"Gloria B. Lane" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
"Gloria B. Lane" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Kathy, I read all of your beautiful, inspirational tribute, and thank
you for it. I understand. What a wonderful kitty friend - yes,
he's perfect. Blessings, Gloria
>Kathy,
>I am so moved by your words. What a beautiful tribute to Legolas. I never
>knew him and yet I now miss him.
>
>God speed Legolas. To the Bridge or Valinor or anyplace that is good enough
>to deserve you.
>
>>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Reply-To: [email protected]
>>To: [email protected]
>>Subject: Legolas has gone to Valinor (The Bridge) - CLS
>>Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:17:47 EST
>
>>
>>Belinda, Please add Legolas to the CLS. Thanks.
>>
>>"It's normal to want to do everything humanly possible to save a life, and
>>that's important. Doing everything hum! anely possible to ease suffering is
>>much
>>more important, and sometimes, when the treatment is worse than the
>>disease,
>>and the disease is beyond any chance of a cure, that means letting go.
>>Knowing
>>when to let go is the most important thing of all. Give them every good day
>>they have coming, but know when that last good day has been spent." ~ K.S.
>>
>>Legolas' last good day was spent over the weekend. Legolas left the Gray
>>Havens for Valinor (the Bridge) Tues. morning. This is long, but I wanted
>>to go
>>back through his history here - especially for the folks who don't know
>>about
>>him. He was a remarkable guy. What happened Tuesday is at the end, for
>>those
>>who want to skip ahead.
>>
>>Legolas came here on June 4, 2003 because he tested positive for FeLV and
>>the
>>ladies who got! him off the street couldn't keep him. They had other cats, a
>>small house and rooms with doors that didn't close tightly. They had him
>>for a
>>month and got him neutered and vaccinated. He was believed to have been a
>>grown up kitten from the previous summer - it turned out that he was at
>>least 5
>>years old, probably 8-10, and possibly much older. He was exceptionally
>>affectionate and the ladies who rescued him said that if they couldn't find
>>a place
>>for him to go he'd have to be put to sleep. Never having been able to live
>>with
>>myself when I know there's a cat under threat of euthanasia that I can
>>help, I
>>quickly agreed to give him a home with my other 3 positive cats. I named
>>him
>>Legolas in the hopes that some elvish qualities would rub off on him - like
>>the whole immortality thing.
>>
>>He set! tled in within minutes and in about a 1/2 an hour, he'd found the toy
>>stash under the bed. He wasn't eating much other than canned food back
>>then,
>>and I had been having trouble finding something he'd like consistantly, but
>>for
>>the most part, everything was going well - his weight of about 7 1/2 - 8
>>pounds concerned me (it was a little on the low side for a cat his size).
>>But I
>>still had this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right but I
>>couldn't
>>put my finger on it. It seemed like there was an inordinant amount of urine
>>in
>>the litter pans, but then I thought that maybe I was mistaken.
>>
>>One of my surviving 3 original FeLV kids (from the pre-FeLV days - there
>>had
>>been 6 - Sam and Slick Willy both died in 2001 from lung cancer caused by
>>FeLV, then Tina died on 3/11/03), Monty, passed away fr! om severe anemia on
>>7/25/03, then I decided that I wanted to know more about Legolas' health
>>and had some
>>bloodwork done on him. I found out that his blood work showed that he was
>>anemic, had elevated BUN and creatinine levels, and he had a significant
>>heart
>>murmur. His red blood cell count was at about 13 or 17% (the same that
>>Monty's
>>was when he was too weak to stand anymore) yet he would run into the
>>bathroom
>>when I was in there and clear a jump from the floor 3-4 feet in front of me
>>to
>>my shoulder while I was sitting on the toilet. We started him on subQ
>>fluids
>>and some medication, and he seemed to improve. I took him to the internal
>>medicine vet that I take a couple of my negative guys with HCM to, and
>>found that
>>he didn't have kidney failure, his kidneys were enlarged and probably had
>&g! t;either an infection raging in them or had cancer. With the fluids, his
>>packed cell
>>volume (PCV) of red blood cells had increased, and his murmur went away, so
>>we
>>kept on doing what we could for him, but really didn't expect him to see
>>Sept. 1st.
>>
>>He had a hard time with his appetite, and for a while, Fancy Feast cat food
>>was all he would eat. Then, he threw up with one flavor and he wouldn't
>>touch
>>it again, and found another flavor he was willing to try until he threw up
>>again (his kidney problems made him nautious). Then his appetite changed
>>and all I
>>could get him to eat was home cooked food - chicken livers, rice, broth and
>>a
>>little water. He enjoyed his chicken liver soup, until he threw up after
>>eating it, and I couldn't get him to eat it anymore. By October ('03) I
>>figured
>>out tha! t he adored fast food, and started getting things like KFC and
>>Burger
>>King for him. I'd get a KFC dinner, give him the meat from the chicken, and
>>offer
>>him a little of the potatoes and mac & cheese, and found out that he would
>>eat well if I shared a dinner with him. If I got it for him, tore up his
>>food,
>>and ate some other kind of food myself, he'd only pick at his food. If I
>>got a
>>dinner for both of us, tore up his food, and had some myself, he'd eat an
>>entire chicken breast by himself, along with a spoonful of mac and cheese
>>and
>>mashed potatoes - and sometimes some of the biscuit. Because he wasn't
>>eating much
>>else, I made a point of getting fast food everyday that I could share with
>>him - burgers without onions (he liked whoppers best), chicken sandwiches,
>>chicken nuggets (I'd take off any breading).
>>
>>In the begining of November ('03), I brought home two new FeLV cats, Althea
>>from Cleveland, OH, and Byron from Andover, NJ. Between 3/11/03 and
>>10/22/03,
>>we lost 3 of the 4 FeLV kids from the original group (who were here before
>>they
>>got FeLV in 2000) - and the last of the 3 was a little longhair calico girl
>>who was born here in '98 (Pasula Sapa - Dale's sister) and who was heart
>>and
>>soul devoted to Redbud. Redbud is the last of my pre-FeLV kids, and is an
>>energetic, friendly, extroverted kinda guy who was the head of my welcoming
>>committee for years. He had a hard time saying goodbye to his old friends
>>(Tina who
>>had been here since she was 2 days old in Sept, '93, Monty who was brought
>>here
>>at only a day or two old and was found on a porch in an eastern
>>neighborhood
>>! in Dayton called Belmont - a month or so before Slick Willy was born in
>>'99,
>>and Pasu - Redbud came here in the fall of '97). Legolas helped him a lot,
>>but
>>Redbud's a very emotional guy and took Pasu's passing especially hard.
>>Because
>>Legolas had given me multiple scares already, I decided to find Redbud a
>>couple new companions who were young, but had been FeLV+ for over a year
>>(so that
>>their chances of long term survival would be better). I found those two in
>>Byron & Althea. Legolas accepted the new guys almost as fast as Redbud -
>>although
>>Leggy was much more reserved in his greeting them. He gave them a day or
>>two
>>and made a friendly approach. Redbud was so anxious to make the friendly
>>approach that it took the new guys about 10 minutes to come out of their
>>travel
>>carriers - because Redbud had ! his head and shoulders in the door way, eyes
>>open
>>and shining with excitement, ears forward, tail up, doing the "Hi! I'm
>>Redbud!
>>Who are you? Will you be my friend?Pleasepleasepleaseplease???" greeting
>>that
>>he's become famous for. When Byron got here, Redbud looked in the carrier,
>>did
>>a double take (Byron looks almost exactly like a small version of Redbud)
>>and
>>almost blocked me from opening the door because he was so anxious to get in
>>and start giving headbutts. He had poor Byron pushed back in the carrier,
>>giving him headbutts and washing his face - before they'd even had a chance
>>to get
>>a good sniff at each other's butts. Luckily, both Byron and Althea realized
>>Redbud meant well, even if he was a little overly exhuberant, and settled
>>in
>>quickly. Byron was eating Science Diet dry food, and Legolas! decided that
>>he
>>liked it too. I was thrilled - he had never eaten dry food here before. I
>>hoped
>>that meant that his condition would continue to improve.
>>
>>By Christmas 2003, Legolas' weight was up to 12 pounds and he was gorgeous
>>-
>>and eating nothing but dry Science Diet and the occasional chicken breast.
>>His
>>fur looked great - soft and shiny, his eyes were bright, and he looked like
>>he was going to be with me for quite some time. Then, just after January,
>>his
>>health changed again.
>>
>>In January, he started losing weight, and I discovered he'd developed some
>>nasty ulcers on his tongue. We tried a number of antibiotics, vitamins,
>>nutritional suppliments, and nothing other than depomedrol shots every week
>>seemed to
>>help. The regular vet said he thought it was oral cancer - a nasty, fast
>>growing cancer that causes drooling, horrible odor, and an inability to eat
>>and
>>drink. The internal medicine vet and I were unable to see any sign of a
>>tumor
>>where the regular vet said he saw something suspicious, but since Leggy was
>>painful to have his mouth opened wide or for long, the IM vet and I
>>acknowleged the
>>possibility that we just didn't happen to see it, but we tried to remain
>>hopeful that the regular vet was mistaken.
>>
>>Legolas's weight began to drop, and dropped to about 7 pounds, meandered
>>back
>>up to 8 pounds and declined again - he was just skin and bones now, but
>>he'd
>>been looking happy and doing things that told me he was still enjoying a
>>decent quality of life. He couldn't groom himself, so when he got dirty and
>>wanted
>>to get clean, he'd jump up on the top o! f the shower door and climb down
>>into
>>my arms. When he wanted a shower, "no" was not an option.
>>His canned food had to be cold (I'm thinking it felt good on his tongue
>>that
>>way), and piled into a mound on a plate - so he could pick up bites rather
>>than lap it up. For the most part, when I give him something like KFC, he'd
>>come
>>up, sniff the food I'd prepared for him, come up to me and put his front
>>paws
>>around my neck and give me a face rub, then go and eat.
>>Over the last few months, I noticed a pointy growth in the back of his
>>mouth
>>- back near the joint of his jaw on the right side of his mouth, by the
>>lower
>>jaw, between his cheek and teeth. It never got any bigger, but he'd started
>>to
>>have long strings of very thick clear to yellow drool dangling from his
>>mouth
>>almost con! stantly. I brushed his teeth and used his toothbrush to gently
>>swab
>>the wads of thick slobber out of his mouth. Depomedrol stopped the drooling
>>for most of a week at a time, but because of the side effects of Depo -
>>mainly
>>diabetes - we couldn't give it more often than once a week - and that was
>>pushing our luck, but it was helping him so it was worth the risk of giving
>>it to
>>him.
>>
>>He always looked at me with an _expression_ that said "I've looked for you my
>>whole life, now that I'm here, I'm not going anywhere." and that kept me
>>fighting for him. His eyes have been clouding over for the last few months
>>- nothing
>>unusual for a cat with FeLV - but this weekend, one eye suddenly became
>>opaque from an ulcer caused by his eye lashes rubbing his cornea and he's
>>become
>>nearly if not totally blind (As his we! ight dropped, his eyes sank in, and
>>his
>>eye lids rolled inward). He'd been becoming more unsteady on his feet over
>>the
>>last week, and Tuesday morning it was all he could do to make his back legs
>>work. The last few days, he urinated wherever he could get to - sometimes
>>it was
>>on a towel on the floor in the bathroom, a couple times it was on the bed
>>(if
>>anyone ever has to sleep with a cat with a bladder control issue, be sure
>>to
>>get at least two fitted waterproof mattress pads), and more than once it
>>was on
>>me (extra night shirts are helpful too). His heart rate was very slow and
>>irregular, and he'd developed his anemic murmur again. I would've liked to
>>have
>>known what his PCV was now, but knowing wouldn't change anything, and I
>>wasn't
>>going to put him through having blood drawn without! good reason.
>>
>>I took him to the vet one last time Tuesday morning. It was the first and
>>only time Legolas didn't go into his carrier as soon as I set it down on
>>the bed
>>with the door open in all the time he's been here. Normally, I'd have
>>brought him home and let the others he lived with see him, and then bury
>>him, but
>>because of the snow from last Wednesday's storm still being over a foot
>>deep,
>>the vet's office is holding him in their freezer until the weather breaks
>>enough
>>to dig a grave - then I'll take him out to my parent's house to bury him
>>with
>>the rest of my grown ups who've passed.
>>
>>I'm really going to miss Legolas. I even found myself appreciating having
>>his
>>slimy, smelly, drool covered snout being pushed into my face at night. He
>>did
>>his best to live u! p to his namesake's lifespan - his blood work always
>>showed
>>his RBC count and a couple other things to be too low to support any
>>activity, yet he was running, jumping, & playing up until just the last few
>>weeks. He
>>enjoyed the Christmas treats and played with a couple of the toys our
>>friends
>>from the cats forum at about.com sent to us (they conspired in secret and
>>sent
>>it as a surprise - because I'd had a very bad year. They sent a huge
>>rubbermaid tote of cat treats & toys and Mommy treats and toys that arrived
>>on
>>Wednesday as the snow was just starting to get really deep. We didn't get
>>any more
>>mail until Tuesday of this week). Leggy has been snuggling on my pillow
>>next
>>to my face for the last week or two and sleeping under the covers with me -
>>which he never used to do. I suspect his not h! aving much other than skin
>>covering
>>his joints made him pretty cold most of the time and he probably needed the
>>extra cushioning to be able to sleep comfortably. Tuesday morning, we
>>snuggled
>>together in a sunny spot on the bed for a while and I hand fed him over 1/2
>>a
>>slice of honey ham lunch meat - he still enjoyed his munchies - but age and
>>disease finally caught up with him.
>>
>>The one thing I think of when I think about him is the same thing I've
>>thought ever since I brought him home and found out about problem after
>>problem
>>after problem that's turned up with him - He's Perfect.
>>
>>I can almost see Legolas, trotting off to the Bridge, humming a little
>>tune....
>>
>>The Road goes ever on and on
>>Down from the door where it began.
>>Now far ahead the Road has gone,
>! ;>And I must follow, if I can,
>>Pursuing it with eager feet,
>>Until it joins some larger way
>>Where many paths and errands meet.
>>And whither then? I cannot say.
>>(J.R.R. Tolkien - from LOTR)
>>
>>Goodbye, my old friend - until we meet again....
>>
>>Where there's life, there's hope.
>>
>>
>>Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then...find the way ~
>>Abraham Lincoln
>>
>>Kathy
