8/30/2024
红叶
Administrator
Posts: 3355
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April the Cat Lover |
Introduction
Today is July 29, 2024. I got off work at 4 o'clock and hurried from Brompton to Maple. It was already 4:40 when I arrived at the door of the pet hospital. I saw my wife bringing the cat April out. I hurriedly asked my wife how she was doing. My wife shook her head and told me that the doctor had confirmed that 16-year-old April had advanced tongue cancer and was incurable. I should take her home, but she would die in a few days.
Fighting fate together
April came home from the hospital and was in a daze. It was already evening when the anesthetic injected by the hospital wore off. During this period, I told my wife that I should prepare a beautiful box and small accessories for her in case of an emergency. Uncontrollably, I was already in tears and choked with sobs.
"I must fight once. She is my beloved daughter!" I told my wife and warned myself.
In the drawer where we put medicine, I found ofloxacin, cefuroxime capsules, a tablet of azithromycin, and erythromycin. That night, I started to give April the medicine at the dosage that a 2-3 year old human baby would use. I fed her medicine first thing when I woke up at 6am, and again when I got home at 5pm, and again before going to bed at around 10pm.
Her severe tongue cancer caused her tongue to not retract, and she couldn't close her mouth, and she couldn't eat without thinking. She couldn't take the medicine, and I couldn't pry open her mouth to feed her medicine. I could only patiently dissolve the medicine in a little water, and then suck it out with a thin needle, and then put April on her back on my legs, holding her head with one hand, and holding the needle with the other hand waiting for an opportunity to feed her medicine. Every time, she struggled desperately, and I really couldn't control the situation alone. Her claw marks were all over my hands and body. After taking the medicine, she always shook her head violently from side to side, and as a result, my face was always covered with her saliva or medicine.
Early in the morning, I fed April the cat anti-inflammatory drugs and food. When I saw her sad face, the blood coming out of her mouth, and the various dirty spots all over her body, I thought about how she had always been pretty, clean, and generous, and never caused us any trouble. . . . I couldn't help but feel sad again, and tears welled up in my eyes.
Today is August 12th, and we have been home for two weeks with April. I took a lot of clean and soft cloths from the company, and covered the sofa back where April slept and usually liked to lie with clean cloths. I just changed the cloths that were soiled by the liquid that kept flowing out of her mouth and threw them in the trash.
Today is August 14th. I was a little scared: when I fed April medicine with a syringe, she always struggled desperately, often biting her tongue with her teeth, and a lot of blood gushed out. I was so heartbroken.
I was thinking that I had been desperately feeding her anti-inflammatory drugs for two weeks, and the dosage was still sufficient. If she kept biting her tongue, the anti-inflammatory drugs would not be able to resist. In addition, I estimated that the level of anti-inflammatory drugs in April's body could last for a while. Therefore, I decided to only grind the anti-inflammatory drugs into powder and mix them with various foods for her starting from yesterday, hoping that she could get used to it and let the wound on her tongue gradually heal.
Today is August 16th. In the morning, I found that April's tongue could not be retracted because the tumor was too big. Her mouth was open and a lot of saliva flowed. I changed to various soft cat food, but she still refused to eat. I
talked with her for a while in the morning, and talked about how I am not a doctor, and I don't know what to do in this situation. I am very sorry.
On the way to work, the scene of my first meeting with April kept floating in my mind, and my tears were full. My heart was hard to calm down.
Fate
The only time I went to the petsmart alone in my life was in the fall of 2010. At that time, my family had just moved from the old house of 1500 square feet to the new house of 3500 square feet with cat Max. Max was also a cat that no one else wanted. We picked him up from another city, Hamilton. Max is a tabby male cat. He is very territorial and very fierce. He bravely attacks all guests, even dogs that approach him.
He came to my house in 2006 when he was about one year old. Even though he was sterilized, his personality was still quite aggressive. We thought that Max was too lonely and we needed to adopt another cat as a companion. Occasionally, my wife and I would go to various adoption events, but we never met the cat that moved us.
That day, after work, I suddenly had an impulse to go to petsmart for cat adoption. I got off work at 4 o'clock in Brompton and arrived there at about 4:40. There was a big iron cage in the middle of the hall. There were 7 or 8 cats of various colors and sizes. They were all homeless and waiting to be adopted (if no one adopts them within a certain period of time, they will be put down).
All the cats were sleeping soundly. Then a beautiful
cow cat stood up and walked to the iron cage to look at me. She was a standard cow cat with round green eyes, 37cm high appearance, symmetrical, snow-white legs and belly, long curved eyebrows, pink nose and paws, and three very light white
stripes on her back.
She looked at me and followed me from one side of the cage to the other. I asked her, "Are you willing to come to my house? Do you like me?" Unexpectedly, she meowed softly. At this time, I was actually moved and decided to take her home.
I hurriedly called my wife, "Today, a cat at petsmart has taken a fancy to me. Come quickly, let's go through the adoption procedures and take her home, okay?" Then, my wife hurriedly drove over.
While waiting for my wife to come, April ate cat food, drank water, and went to the litter box. I kept watching her from the side and occasionally said a few words to her.
The manager told us that her name is April, now 1 and a half years old, a female cat. During the whole process of handling the formalities, April was very
quiet , just like a lady from a noble family.
"She is so familiar and at ease at home," I said in amazement. After April came to our house, she did not hide like other cats, but walked around the sofa, crawled under the chair of the dining table, and then lay on the sofa. She looked calm and did not make any noises. After a while, she went to the cat litter box we placed in the hallway by herself, and the whole thing was clean and tidy.
I thought that Max, an old resident of our house, would have a big problem with April, but she and the fierce Max also lived in peace. They never fought, and Max took the initiative to walk away when there was a conflict. I personally think that April is an absolute beauty in the cat world, because later the adopted male cats in my house all revolved around her, but she was obviously obsessed with appearance. Although Max has a strong body, he has a pair of big eyes with symmetrical stripes, so my April is not very averse to Max. In addition, she also likes Hero, another homeless, long-haired Norwegian forest cat adopted by my family, and often allows each other to snuggle together. As for Kirby, my cat with asymmetrical stripes, small eyes and orange flowers, she always despised and stayed away from him.
A few days after I got home, April came to my bed to massage my belly, which touched me so much that I couldn't express my joy.
At the moment
when I wrote these memories with tears in my eyes, my beloved cat April is still alive.
Yesterday was August 18th. I woke up early in the morning but still didn't see April, who was sick (I didn't see her on the 17th). I went home at 1pm after playing tennis and still didn't see her. At about 3pm, I was scared and took a flashlight to search upstairs, the greenhouse, the bedroom, and the basement, but I couldn't find her. Thinking of her not eating for so long and suffering from cancer, I was heartbroken. In addition, I knew that she also wanted to leave alone at the last moment, without giving us grief.
After 8pm, I really couldn't find her, so I told my son and daughter-in-law and asked them to help me find April.
"Found it, found it", following the cheers of my daughter-in-law Qingqing, I rushed over and finally found a pointed ear sticking out of a cardboard box under the flashlight. I was overjoyed and gently took April out of the peaceful and quiet state. I was reluctant to let go and quickly asked my wife to squeeze two cat strips for her. April ate them so happily. I also said to April, "You can't abandon me and not see me. I want to be with you in your last moments." After saying that, I was already in tears. With my tears accompanying me, April left some food in the bowl that she didn't finish. I looked at it and saw a lot of blood in the bowl. I felt so sad. There was
still a long blood streak of about 1 inch hanging from the corner of April's mouth. I hurriedly took a piece of paper to wipe her mouth, but she ran to the basement with bright red blood streaks and hid in the pile of sundries under the stairs.
I called her softly for a while, but there was no trace. I was afraid of scaring her, so I had to give up.
After 11 o'clock in the evening, I fell asleep on the sofa next to April
's nest as usual, imagining that April was still in the nest. In a daze, I heard April come to my pillow. I didn't dare to turn over or move, for fear of scaring her. I just called her softly and gently, and told her with tears in my eyes that I was sorry that her illness was so serious and that I loved her very much.
After a while, April climbed on the back of the sofa to sleep with me. When
I woke up in the morning, April was still sleeping on the back of the sofa. I touched her and she was still alive. I hurried to open a can of food for April, added water and anti-inflammatory drugs to melt, and held it in my hands to feed her half of it. Then, she ran to the basement with blood in her eyes.
Years have passed
yesterday. I happened to scan the video on the Internet to introduce the four characteristics of cats who come back to repay their gratitude: 1. Not too tossing, not causing trouble for you. 2. Not prone to illness. 3. Always sleeping by your side at night. 4. Always following you foot by foot. April is a cat that never causes trouble to her owner. Like Max, she never scratches furniture randomly at home, but always sharpens her claws on the scratching board. Many friends who come to our house are amazed that she keeps furniture such as sofas intact even though she has a cat. The furniture at home was damaged only when we later adopted Rocky, a ragdoll cat abandoned by others because of eye disease. He always sharpens his claws on the sofa or stairs. We couldn't correct it, so we just let him be.
Generally speaking, cats will stay away or hide when they see strangers or dogs at home. April, however, is very open and gives people the impression that she is calm and worldly.
After my family moved to a big house, we often held large gatherings of fellow villagers in our home to keep in touch with friends from the same hometown. There were usually 50 to 60 people, and sometimes even 80 to 90 people. Adults and children, and the noise was deafening. What surprised all of us was that the other cats in the house disappeared, and only April was still wandering freely among the crowd, sometimes sitting next to guests, on the sofa, under the table, next to the stereo, and next to the TV. . . She is quite like her owner. She is the only cat I have ever seen who is so generous and peaceful.
April seems to like people more than cats. She always follows me at home, walks up and down the stairs, lies next to the computer keyboard, sits on my lap or next to me to watch TV with me, and always sleeps next to me on the left side of the bed at night. In the past year, she has always slept with us on the upper part of our pillow. She can distinguish the sound of my car engine, and when I open the door after work, she is always waiting for me behind the door.
Recently, April cannot eat due to advanced tongue cancer. She is actually very weak and suffers from pain. On Tuesday, a group of president friends invited me out for a drink and chat about life in Canada. I got home at 12:30 in the evening, and when I opened the door, I saw April still sitting on the washing machine at the door waiting for me. I was so excited, but also very heartbroken. I know how difficult it is for her to jump onto the washing machine in such a serious condition.
"Thank you," I said, and quickly picked up my beloved cat daughter, went into the house and gently put her in her cat bed, and said to her again, "You are so sick, don't wait for me in the future, dear, get well soon," and then I fell asleep on the sofa next to her.
Never leave or abandon
Since
I was young, my family has been raising various cats to accompany me. "Cats are family" has been deeply engraved in my heart. After
April came to my house, I found that I began to be allergic to pollen. I went to an allergist to check the allergens. I had more than 50 injections of allergens on my arms, and the results were all red and swollen. The doctor told me that it was very serious, and there was no need to list the allergens one by one in the report, and it was clearly stated that all the tests were allergic. Sometimes April walked by my arm, and even if it was rubbed by her hair, my arm would often be red and swollen, just like eczema, and it was very itchy. If she scratched it, it would definitely be swollen, often accompanied by severe itching of the nose and ears, and uncontrollable sneezing. April often comes to my bed to give me a 2-3 minute massage before going to sleep at night. When I am touched, I will also have an allergic reaction. The strange thing is that other cats in my house have never caused me an allergic reaction. In addition, the season when flowers and trees bloom outdoors is also a period of allergies.
Friends and doctors around me have advised me not to keep April anymore, but I have long believed that April is like my daughter, and as a father, I will definitely take good care of her and never abandon her.
After trying various treatment options and countless allergy medicines, I have lost confidence in my recovery from allergies. For the past 14 years, I have been relying on allergy medicines and sprays to control it from getting worse.
However, I still love to hug April, like to chat with her, look at her green round eyes with admiration, and happily stroke her soft white belly when she lies down. . . .
Farewell
Today is August 21st. Due to the swelling of her tongue and throat, April has stopped eating for the past two days. We tried all kinds of soft liquid food and cat strips, but she couldn't. The day before yesterday, I used canned white fish that she used to love, mixed it with water and melted it, and gave it to her. She was obviously very hungry, but she stopped eating after two bites. I looked and saw a lot of blood in her bowl.
Today, I told the company about April's situation at work, and applied for leave on Friday or Monday to accompany April to do euthanasia. At 1:30 pm, I received a message from my wife, saying that we have arranged to send my beloved cat April to her last journey at 5 pm today.
All household cephalosporins, erythromycin and anti-inflammatory drugs have been used, but they really cannot treat the late stage of tongue cancer. The key is that April cannot eat. We really can't bear to watch our beloved April being tortured by hunger and pain and slowly dying in front of us.
Today is the sad moment of our separation from April. At this moment, I am already in tears at work. I hurried to leave work early and go home to accompany her for the last time.
April, my beloved cat, my daughter. Thank you for coming to my home, thank you for your company, thank you for bringing us happiness, thank you for giving us warmth, and thank you for everything.
Goodbye, April. You will always be with us and we will miss you forever.
May you go to heaven, where there is no pain, no worries, only happiness.
Please wait for us, we will be reunited in heaven in the future and live happily together again.
Love you, April.!
edited by Dehua
edited by 红叶 on 8/30/2024
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