Geri
October 2013
One afternoon in October, mum got a frantic knock at the door from a neighbor. The neighbor wanted to know whether she had a Calico cat and was concerned that a cat she had found in her back yard was my mum's. Although relieved that the cat in question wasn't Calleigh, her calico, she was devastated to find Geri collapsed on the ground behind the house. The neighbor had attemped to give Geri food and water and she hadn't been able to drink, and mum's immediate concern was that she had been hit by a car. Mum didn't recognize Geri and had no idea who her owner might be, so she immediately took her to the emergency vet. After a thorough and costly examination, the amazing people at E-Vets in Matthews determined that Geri wasn't hit by a car, but had simply collapsed from malnutrition. They also noted that her teeth were in terrible shape and perhaps the reason that she hadn't been able to eat or drink. It's hard to tell from the photo, but Geri was very underweight, had a heart murmer, bad eyesight, and was also deaf.
After being on a drip for a few days, Geri regained enough strength for my mum to bring her home and continue to care for her in the comfort of a warm bedroom, rather than in a vets office. At first Geri did very well, and began to move around the room quite quickly, wailing in excitement when she saw mum come in the room (quite often she would sleep through mum's visits, unable to hear her come in). Unfortunately she began to struggle to eat again shortly thereafter. After a dental extraction, she again ate well but quickly went downhill. She was not able to eat even though she was obviously hungry, and was drooling contstantly. Mum cared for her, cleaned her face, tried to hand feed her, and gave her as much comfort as any cat could wish for. After a day or two of minimal eating, mum took her back to the emergency vet for a 3rd check up.
An examination revealed an agressive tumor in Geri's mouth that would require extensive and dangerous treatment for such an old and fragile cat, with a low chance of success. The vet and mum made the very difficult decision to put Geri out of her pain. We didn't get to spend much time with her, but we are very glad she came into our lives, and extremely glad mum had the heart to care for her, physically and emotionally.
Baby Boy
May 2012
Baby Boy was adopted at the age of 8 by Danielle. After a long and happy life he passed away from cancer in May of 2012.
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