So much for timely posts. I've never been good at keeping a diary, even when I was younger and in theory had more time. Maybe I lead a boring life and figure people wouldn't be interested in what I had to say. But today I have something near and dear to my heart to write about.
On Thursday evening, we had to have our kitty, Mars, put to sleep. He was suffering from aortic thromboembolism, more commonly known as "saddle clot" or "saddle thrombus", a complication of heart disease. It is a blood clot in the far part of his aorta, at the base of his spine where the aorta splits to go to each rear leg, and causes lameness, nerve and muscle damage, and possibly paralysis.
Thursday Evening.
The newt and I went to the grocery store after dinner. The three of us (hubby included) were unpacking bags when I heard Mars mewing - not his regular mew. We went out into the living room, and Mars was trying to move towards us, but his butt was dragging. Hubby picked up Mars. A few minutes later, he yelled at me to call the vet, because his back legs were limp. This was 7:30PM. I called the vet while hubby got the cat carrier. We tried to distract newt by giving her a pack of diapers to open up, but she wanted nothing to do with it and watched the commotion from her bedroom door, the entire time asking, "what's wrong with Mars?". The regular vet was closed, so I called the emergency vet and hubby rushed Mars up there. After this, we loose track of time.
Hubby calls me and describes the vet's diagnosis. Mars' blood pressure in his rear legs was off the charts. As he was talking to me and describing the options (surgery, medication, etc.), Mars' blood pressure in his rear legs dropped to zero - he was getting NO blood flow to the lower part of his body. The vet said they could treat him overnight, and refer him to a cardiologist, but there was no guarantee that 1) the treatment would work (he could remain paralyzed, they even talked about a kitty wheelchair) and 2) that this wouldn't happen again (the next time the clot could go to his eyes, his lungs, or his brain).
We decided the best thing would be to have Mars put down. So I called my best friend for moral support, and we all packed into the car, including the newt. It was important to me to say goodbye, and was important to me for the newt to see Mars one last time, even though she didn't understand what was going on. We got there and said our goodbyes for a few minutes, then I opted to stay in the room while they did the injection. Hubby and friend took the newt out to the waiting room, while I stayed with Mars. I didn't want him to die alone. At approximately 9:30PM, Mars took his last breath.
The History of Mars
Mars was a seven year old orange tabby. He was a polydactyl cat, meaning he had extra toes, like the Hemingway cats. He was kinda neurotic, not sure if the polydactyl-ism had something to do with that. Mars loved strawberries and the dried peas from rice cracker mixes. He fetched paper balls. He's only cat I ever knew that fetched. He was a lovey cat, almost to an annoying extreme. He was always underfoot. I found him in the Pennysaver when he was a kitten. I told hubby (who was just boyfriend at the time), that I was just going to "check the kitty out". He knew I was coming home with a cat. When I laid my eyes on little kitten Mars, with his big pea head, it was love at first sight. His name was originally Marmalade, nicknamed Marmi, and he knew his name. We decided Marmi wasn't a manly enough name, so we changed it to Mars. We figured it was similar enough not to be confusing to him. Can't get much manlier than the Roman god of war. He was the start to our family, which grew to include another cat, Nyx, the newt and the bun in the oven. Mars at first tolerated, then grew to love the newt, as much as a cat can love a three-year old who squeals and overly squeezes a cat when she would see him.
Aortic Thromboembolism
Web searches of aortic thromboembolism indicate it is a complication of heart disease (which we had no clue Mars had!) in which blood clots are formed and can lodge throughout the body. Hubby sent an email to a friend who is a vet (he also tried to call her Thursday evening, but couldn't get ahold of her). Her professional response was: "You definitely made the right decision, there's no doubt about it. Not only is it extremely rare for a clot to clear without later detriment, a saddle thrombus can be very painful. Even if it had cleared (which again would've been unlikely), he probably would've thrown another clot soon due to the heart disease.". Estimates range between 35% and 40% of cats are able to walk again after an episode, and cats who have experienced an episode have a 90% chance of recurrence. It affects cats between five and seven years old, and affects male cats more often than female cats.
Thinking back, this may have actually been the second episode Mars had. About three months ago, hubby and I were awakened by Mars mewing and making a scratching noise at 2:30 in the morning. I thought Mars was chasing a toy under the bed, or got stuck under the bed (he wasn't the most agile cat), but turns out he was on the floor next to the bed. He was laying on his stomach and kinda moving/scrambling his legs back and forth. Then it stopped. He got up and walked away. One's perception in the middle of the night, in a dark room when half asleep isn't always accurate. Hindsight is 20/20.
The Last 48 Hours
On Thursday night we told the newt that Mars was really sick and had to stay at the doctors. On Friday when she asked about him, we said Mars wasn't coming home because he was really sick. I didn't want to say anything like Mars went to sleep and didn't wake up, because I remember hearing/reading a story about a kid whose parents told him that about their pet, and then the kid was afraid to go to sleep for fear that he wouldn't wake up. And a co-worker advised against saying Mars when to a farm to play with other kitties. She said that to her son (when her son was about the newt's age) about their dog, and her son then wanted to go play with the other doggies too. We've just left it as Mars isn't coming home. And so far that is working alright.
Nyx, the other cat, is your typical cat. Feed me when I want to be fed, pet me when I want to be petted, and play with me when I want to be played with. Though I've seen more of Nyx in the past 48 hours than I've seen in the past 48 days.
I miss Mars the most at bedtime. He loved to sit in the window above my side of the bed, and would walk across my face and hair to get there. Many a night I was awakened by a cat walking on my head to get to the window. I miss that. But I know he's now playing with Alice, Melody, Heidi, Max, Shire and Ruby. Probably asking for strawberries and paper balls.
RIP Mars - May 2002 - June 25, 2009.
