A Must Post

This will be hard to write but I feel I must share something that could potentially save another kitty and the heartache of it's family...

This past week has been difficult after losing our dear Duchess.  I have shed a lot of tears and I'm still feeling quite sad.  The house seems so empty without her.  I've done a lot of re-playing in my head of the last months and especially the last week of her life and have come to a conclusion.  I'll back up a bit to fill you in before I share that conclusion.

Duchess was only 11 years old.  That's still young for a kitty.  They often live much longer.  She was very healthy.  The only problem she was having was an occasional minute or so that she had a little asthma type of attack.  It sounded like a quiet cough and a little wheezing.  It always cleared up very quickly...a minute or so.  And, it rarely happened....maybe once every several months.  However, it became more frequent this past month.  I thought it might have been an allergic reaction to the scent in her kitty litter.  We changed to unscented litter and took her to the vet for a check up.  She seemed to be the picture of health aside from the asthma. The vet thought her weight was perfect.  Her teeth, eyes, ears, and fur looked great.  Her heart was beating perfectly.  He felt it would be best to give her a corticosteroid injection.  He said it could eliminate or help with her asthma attacks and last up to three months.  And, if she still had asthma attacks, we could get an inhaler for her.  I questioned the safety of the injection several times and after talking it over with my husband and daughter we decided to let them give it to her.

Over the course of the next week she became less and less herself with each passing day.  One week after the injection, she lost her appetite and the next morning she was having difficulty breathing....but in a very different way.  It was short and fast.  We rushed her to the vet.  He gave her asthma meds and we waited.  Nothing seemed to help.  He strongly suggested that we take her to a specialist/the local emergency vet.  We all thought that the asthma meds just needed more time and that letting her rest in an oxygen chamber would help.  It didn't.  They decided later in the day that she was experiencing heart failure and treated her for that using Lasix.  It did nothing.  When we saw her that evening she was gasping for breath.  It was SO HARD to see.  There was really nothing more that could be done and she was declining fast.  We just couldn't let our poor baby suffer any longer.  We had to let her go...no matter how hard it was.  And, it was and is HARD!

Since then, I've done some research on her condition and what was used to treat her and found out that the corticosteroid injection is extremely risky and has a high danger of causing heart failure.  Finding that out was devastating!  I wish SO MUCH that I could go back to that original vet visit not allow her to have that injection.  I wish we could go back and just get her an inhaler.  I feel so strongly that it was that injection that killed her and that is SO HARD to take.  I should have done what I do with an human member of our family...research before allowing any treatments.  What a tragic lesson!

I had to share this just in case anyone who reads this ever has a kitty who develops asthma.  Be very careful about the corticosteroids or even avoid them.  And, to be careful in general with treatments of any kind.  We trust our vets and I know they are doing the best they can and using meds that they believe will help.  But, it can't hurt to do a little research and wait a bit to think on the options.  Of course, I don't know for sure, but I STRONGLY believe that our dear Duchess would still be here if we had done that.  That is such a horrible feeling that I wouldn't want anyone else to ever go through.

I think the loss of Duchess has been harder than the loss of any of my previous pets.  She was so awesome!  She loved to be with us and snuggle up next to us or lay on our laps.  She snuggled under the covers when it was cold...and sometimes when it wasn't.  She loved to travel and go camping with us.  She always knew when we were loading the RV and would hang out in the living room with her eye on the door to be sure we didn't forget her.  She was my knitting buddy.  She even watched TV sometimes.  I could go on and on.  She was a wonderful companion and I miss terribly.  I know it will get easier with time.  I think I actually made it through yesterday without crying.   But, I think it'll be a while before we're ready for to open our broken hearts to a new kitty.

I promise to get back to happier posts.  But, thanks for stopping by and for all the caring comments that so many of you have left.  It means a LOT.

Dearest Duchess

Our dear duchess didn't make it last night.  We're all so heartbroken.  It hurts so bad.  And, we miss her so much.  I just can't believe she is gone!  It's not fair.  It was too soon.  Only forever would have been long enough.  :'-(

Waiting.....

....is so hard!  We got up this morning to find that our dear kitty, Duchess, was having difficulty breathing.  We immediately called the vet and took her in.  We figured it was feline asthma...which she was treated for last week at the vet.  But, this time, she didn't respond to meds and the vet felt it was best for us to take her to a specialist.  We were hoping that the specialist would give her an oxygen treatment and some more meds and she'd be feeling great and ready to come home by later today.  However, we received a call a couple of hours ago that she's not improving and they are concerned now that it may be much more than asthma...it might be heart disease or heart failure.  We've moved on to a new treatment in hopes of improvement and knowing more what the problem is.  It's so hard to wait and we're so worried about our lil' kitty...our baby.  We love her so much and we're trying so hard to keep hoping but it's not sounding good.  Please keep your fingers crossed!  She needs every bit of luck and prayers she can get right now.  She's such a huge part of our family and holds such big places in our hearts.

Stitched with Love

It's done!  My daughter's quilt is finished!

We'd hoped to finish it a couple of weeks ago.  It probably could have been done but life got busy.  

We worked on it when we could.  And, then, she had move and start the new school year at her new college.  I've put lots of hours into it over the past couple of weeks to finish it.  And, I've used lots of band-aids.   I cut myself pretty bad with the rotary cutter one day.  I'm still wearing band-aids for that one.  Ouch!  And, I kept poking myself with pins.  Ugh!  I'm not usually so clumsy with sewing.  But, I made it through.  This project was worth every moment, every drop of blood, every bit of sweat, and every single stitch I put into it.  It represents the amazing and close relationship I have with my daughter, my enormous love for her, and a new chapter in both of our lives.

As we worked on plans of what she would need in her first apartment and how she wanted to decorate, I mentioned the idea of making a quilt.  She loved the idea.  And, she loved a set of fabrics I'd bought several years ago.  We just needed to find a few more fabrics and a design.  We ended up making a simple patchwork of squares.  It worked well for our limited quilting experience, the short time we had to make it, and for the look she wanted.  The fabrics have a bit of a retro feel and the colors are exactly what she's into right now.

This is the front...

And, this is the back...

I like to give the back a little something special so the quilt can be reversible.  We had just enough fabric left over from the squares to make a few more rows.  We placed the strip of colors toward one end so that they'd lay across, near the foot of the bed.  It will add a splash of color at the end of the bed and not be covered by all the pillows.  I wasn't able to find yarn in the pale green color to tie the quilt.  So, I ended up with a darker green that matches the dots.  In the end, I love the tufted look it created.

This project would not be complete without the love our sweet Duchess added.

She was around for every stage of it's creation.

She was in charge of quality control!

She thinks we did a purrrfect job!

She knows because she did a little testing before it was delivered to my daughter.

She loves it!

And, so does my daughter!

It added more color and pattern to her apartment bedroom.  Her room at home is mostly white with pale colors and a shabby chic look.  She's been adding brighter colors to her apartment for more of a cottage kind of feel.  I think it's really cute!   Check out those pretty flowers she made and hung over her bed.  They're made with old sheet music.  There are three of them in different sizes.

I think the quilt will add a warm smile to her heart whenever she sees it and wraps up in it.  This will be a wonderful reminder of how much she is loved.  Especially during those days or moments when she might feel a bit homesick or have an extra challenging day.  This is a big step in her life and this should help ease the transition.  Not to mention how much it has helped me.  It feels like a great big package of love and comfort that I was able to give to her as she heads off into this next big adventure of life.  :-)