Devastating loss

[MauEvig]

Hello everyone. I realize I haven't been active in a few days and thought I'd give a bit of a life update.

One thing I hadn't talked about much was the fact that our beautiful black cat, Domino had been fighting an infection on and off since September. He's an indoor cat, but sometimes he would get into scuffles with one of the other cats and as a result got a wound that resulted in an abscess. At first he was given an antibiotic shot that seemed to do the trick, but later on we could smell the infection coming back. So, we took him back and this time given an oral antibiotic that we administered to him twice a day. He seemed to do better the week before Halloween and cuddled up with Drifter, whom he had a special bond with. You'd always see those two together, they were like brothers. But then he started to go downhill again over the weekend. On Halloween night, we took him back to the vet and the vet told us to try and get him to gain weight. The next night, I bought a bunch of wet food because I knew that might help to nurse him back to health and he'd act like his old, silly affectionate self.

Although we did our best to keep up with antibiotics and eventually got the infection under control, that Wednesday after Halloween he stopped eating. We rushed him to the vet immediately and she did some bloodwork on him.

Thursday night last week, we received the devastating news that our Domino had kidney failure, and that attempting to prolong his life would cause him pain and suffering. That night I took him home and explained everything to my boyfriend. Our hearts were broken. I cried most of the night, but we decided together that we would make the painful decision to put him to sleep. I wanted to give him one last night at home surrounded by his loved ones, family and his "brother" to give him the chance to say goodbye. I took the day off from work, shaking and crying the whole day before and after I took him down. I stayed with him until the very end.

As I type this I'm starting to tear up. Losing a beloved pet is so hard, it's losing a part of your family. We loved that cat, made sure he had a proper burial out back in the flower bed near Storm. Storm who passed away in 2017, we often believe she sent Domino to comfort us when she passed.
It's been a rough week, but I'm ready to talk about that loss now and I'm trying to get through it. I realized the best thing I can do is be there for my other cats, especially Drifter who has been much more clingy since Domino passed. I can tell he looks for him sometimes and doesn't understand.

So now I'm just trying to get used to him being gone and will be sad thinking about it for a while. I'm not sure how I'll get through the holidays now, and with him being a black cat I'm going to be reminded of him whenever I see black cat decorations now. But perhaps that can be a way to honor his memory. He was a beloved cat, and I believe has a special place at the rainbow bridge waiting for us with other pets who have passed on.

Anyway I just wanted to give a life update. This was hard to go through, and I imagine anyone who's ever lost a pet has gone through this too. Perhaps we can use this as a pet-loss support topic. It's hard just saying that we now have 4 cats when it used to be 5. We love all of our cats, and it's never easy saying goodbye.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, Mau, I'm so sorry for you and your boyfriend, your beloved Domino, and your other cats who are grieving him.

The worst part of pet ownership is losing them.

I like the idea of Rainbow Bridge, but however God chooses to provide for His creatures, I'm sure He does. I hope you can take comfort in the knowledge that you did absolutely everything you could for Domino. He is probably frolicking as we speak.

I wish I could give you a big hug.

[Murfreesboro]

We went through a tough time with kitten loss back in 2020. A beautiful calico, who'd been born of a feral mother in my yard, got pregnant at six months and gave birth to three kittens at eight months. I'd been feeding her, so she turned to me for help, but I knew nothing about newborn kittens. They were all three born alive, but one tiny orange one we called Jasper died after five days. It was so sad, but we gave him a burial. Then, after a couple of weeks, a second one, a black and white kitten we also called Domino, passed. We were distressed and didn't understand what was happening to the kittens. Finally the biggest one, a white boy with black spots we'd named Bilbo, showed the same signs of decline. We were desperate and took him to the emergency vet (it was Memorial Day), who said he had feline anemia caused by fleas, and that he'd taken an infection beside. She didn't expect him to live, but she gave him medicine, bathed him in Dawn, and told me to supplement his mother's milk with special kitten formula from the pet store. Well, we did all that, and Bilbo thrived. When I took him to our regular vet four days later, he was doing great.

We had one more terrifying episode with him at five weeks, when he bit the nipple off the tiny bottle I was using to feed him. It got into his stomach, and from Thurs might to Mon morning we feared he couldn't pass it. The vet said he was too young for surgery and recommended euthanasia, but even the vet techs begged him to try the surgery. The procedure is a simple one, but the anesthesia was almost certain to kill him at that age. When we tearfully brought him for the surgery that would almost certainly kill him, they tried one more time with a laxative, and this time, the laxative worked. Bilbo is still a strong healthy boy to this day, and his Mama Callie is now a happy house cat.

I recalled all this because we'd lost a Domino, too. I'd known the kittens had fleas and had even washed them with Dawn a time or so, but I guess I wasn't aggressive enough. I'd not known that fleas can kill newborns.

[Andybev01]

I'm sad to hear about Domino, Mau.

[MauEvig]

Thank you for your well wishes you all. It's been a rough few weeks navigating this loss.
I'd like to think my grandpa is up there taking care of Domino for us, he always loved cats.
I'm glad you were able to rescue the kitty momma and at least one of her boys. It sounds like you did the best you could at the time.
Kittens are vulnerable and susceptible to things especially when they're so young so it makes sense that fleas and other parasites can kill them. I've never raised tiny baby kittens myself, I know people who had. They really need round the clock care, but hopefully momma cat was able to provide some of it. He sounds like a little miracle having survived all that. Good on you for taking in those cats and rescuing them.
Domino seems to be a popular cat name. I'm sure there's a lot of them up there waiting for us to crossover. I'm sure you'll get to see your kittens again one day.
And I'm sure our Dommy will be happy to see us again, along with other cats and animals who have come and gone over the years.