JASMINE
Jasmine 2010 – 2011
Adopted from the Edmonton Humane Society on July 10, 2010 as a companion for not only myself, but for Sid as well. I wanted a cat that would allow me to pet and cuddle it, but even more so I wanted one that could help “tame” Sid. Being just this small white 4 month old puff ball I feared what Sid might do to her, but she taught him her limits real quick and he surprisingly respected them.
In watching and studying her I soon realized she was doing the same with us. She watched the boys to learn from them and her limits with them. Sid was big brother who she could play with and bathe. Wuzzle would allow some bathing, the occasional game of tag, and she was allowed to sit with him if she was calm. Sophie she couldn’t quite figure out because being close was okay, but no cuddling or rubbing against was allowed. She would wait her turn for after work cuddles with Dad, but she was Momma’s girl.
She wouldn’t let me out of her sight unless I was sleeping. She would jump onto the back of my chair then climb down into my arms for cuddles and every night she would curl up on my pillow around my head while I read before going to sleep. Even during my own baths she would lie beside the tub and peek over every time my head disappeared from sight.
Through the winter we noticed she was getting tubby, but since she would have a few nibbles of food every time she followed me to the bathroom I just thought she was trying to catch up to her big brothers size.
A few times we noticed one of her eyes watering. It wasn’t just moist; you could actually see a full tear. I would gently wipe her eye and passed it off as maybe she had a piece of her ever shedding very fine fur in it. I know now these were symptoms of a very fatal disease.
The end of March 2011 I noticed she just wasn’t herself and I grew concerned over how tight her tummy felt so we took her to the vet. She was running a fever (which explained why she was spending so much time in the lower levels of the house), but because she was too “fat” he couldn’t feel her organs. He took her to the back to draw some blood and urine then brought her back with some antibiotics in case it was a virus and told us he would call in a few days with the results, but if anything changed to bring her back.
When he called a few days later he was a bit baffled with the results. There were a couple things off, but nothing that was concerning or pointed to any specific problem. All we could do was keep watching her.
I began to wonder (and even hope) that I was just over reacting because of Spook & Damion, but I knew in my gut that something was terribly wrong and 1 week later we were back at the vet.
It was a female doctor this time and when she heard we were coming in again she went through Jasmines results with a fine toothed comb to make sure nothing was missed…she also found nothing. When she came to examine Jazz the fever was still there, but she said her belly wasn’t fat and guessed there was some fluid build up. She wanted to do some more tests that would require my girl to spend the night as they would need to drain the fluid to get a proper look with the ultrasound. I feared the worst, but we agreed. I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her then we left.
The next day she called to let me know that they had drained about 4 litres of sticky fluid from Jazz’s belly and needed permission to send it to be tested for FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis). Having researched her symptoms on the web I knew what that was and that it was fatal. I already sensed that’s what it was, but I agreed to be sure. We were also free to come pick her up in a couple hours.
A few days later the vet called to let us know that the test did in fact come back positive for FIP. She said she was sorry and to just make Jasmine as comfortable as possible, spend as much time with her as we could then bring her in when (not if) she took a turn for the worst. I knew the average life span for FIP is 2 months after the symptoms appear. I would now be lucky if there was 1 month left with her.
I couldn’t spend every waking moment with Jazz without irritating her so during the times I let her be alone I would search and search for any possible cure. I was desperate and couldn’t bare the thought of losing her. I would find out my family also had secretly put me on depression watch. I did find some treatments that could possibly give me an extra month maybe two, but death was inevitable.
Because of the fever she was still spending a lot of time on the lower levels of the house. I would go down and sit with her throughout the day and tried to remain happy and positive for her all the while my heart was breaking as I watched her slowly get worse each day. I struggled very much with whether or not I should put her down before it got too bad, but would then chastise myself for being selfish in not wanting to prolong my own pain. Knowing she was dying and not able to do a single thing about it was killing me.
Before bed on April 13th I noticed her pupils weren’t contracting and remembered this was a sign of breathing difficulties. I watched her all the next day to be sure then told hubby about it when he got home from work. We both kept an eye on her and around 8:30pm she came to hubby for cuddles and he walked over to me. He had tears in his eyes…we both knew it was time. The vet was closed so we hoped she could wait until morning. Since she didn’t seem to be in pain and was still moving around it didn’t seem that far of a stretch to think she wouldn’t. Plus I wanted one last night with her.
A couple hours after hubby went to bed she really took a turn for the worst. I stayed up with her refusing to go to bed and leave her alone. By 2am I was begging her to just let go. It was okay, I would be okay and she didn’t need to suffer anymore. She couldn’t stand, couldn’t focus, and had peed where she was laying, but still she refused to let go.
When hubby woke up she had managed to drag herself into the cat carrier, but she couldn’t get back out. He removed the lid for her thinking it would help and all she could do was hang her head over the side for me to pet her. This lasted for maybe 10 minutes before her convulsions started. Hubby quickly shooed me out of the room while he tried to keep her comfortable. At 6:40am on April 15, 2011 my sweet Jasmine took her last breath.
For my sweet angel Jasmine: You were my light in a time of darkness and could always make me smile. The love you gave was like no other. You were and will always be my sweet angel girl.
