Oh, my precious Turtle, where do I begin?
I have always loved animals of all sorts, but we didn't have cats when I was growing up, and the few experiences I had with them were midly negative.
When I was married to H1, we moved to a duplex with a yard. I wanted to get a dog, but he said, "No. No dogs. Dogs are like toddlers that never grow up. If you want a pet, we'll get a cat. Cats are lower maintenance." Which is all true, of course, and probably a good call on his part.
A friend of ours was trying to get rid of one of her cats because her other cats were beating it up. So, the day after we moved to the duplex, she brought the cat over to us. The first time we let it out, it ran away, never to be seen again.
Later, some other people we knew were moving, and we took in their two adult cats. A week or so later, they ran away also. We later heard that one of them made it back to their old house, and the new owners agreed to keep him, so that was good.
By then, we had all this cat stuff, boxes, food, litter, etc. so we thought, okay, let's get *kittens* this time, and then as they grow up they will know that this is home. Another acquaintance had three kittens, so we went over, put the carrier down, and took the first two that climbed into it. We went home with 2 female tabby kittens, one grey stripey with white socks, which we named Bobby (for her socks!), and one with brownish swirls and an orange triangle on her forehead. We named this one Turtle, because her coat looked like caramel turtle fudge ice cream, LOL.
Over the years, we decided that Turtle was really a dog in a cat suit. She was always bold and friendly. When anyone would come into my house, she would immediately go to them and check them out. Her favorite toys were a tennis ball and a pig's ear (dog chew).
Turtle was always curious, and LOVED to go through doors of any kind. This may have indirectly lead to her demise. Once when she was about 2 years old, she went missing for 21 days. I had just about given up on her, when a friend was visiting, went for a walk, and found her wandering in the creek in front of our house. He picked her up, and someone said, "Is that your cat? She was under my sink when I moved into my apartment!" So we think she got shut into an empty apartment. Poor girl! She lost 1/3 of her body weight, and she didn't have it to lose. We took her to the vet, of course, who explained to watch out for
fatty liver syndrome, and sent her home. She recovered quite nicely, and I had another 5 years with her.
But when she was about 7, she suddenly stopped eating. She would run to the food bowl, but she'd sniff it, and walk away. I now know that this is typical of liver problems. She was hungry, but the smell of food made her queasy. I'd had another cat lose weight one summer, but the vet told me she was fine & just losing weight for the heat. So when Turtle started losing weight, it was also late spring or early summer and getting hot, so I didn't worry too much about it. But eventually I realized that she was actually sick, and took her to the vet. She now had developed
fatty liver (hepatic lipidosis). We treated her for several months, but to no avail, and that November I had to make the decision to put her down. I was holding her in my arms and looking into her eyes when the vet put the shot into her IV. It was a very sad day for me, but in some ways a relief after about seven months of tube feeding and worrying about this precious cat.
The vet was a little bit stymied by Turtle's symptoms, so did an autopsy on her. She found that her liver and pancreas were *riddled* with cancer. She seemed to think that it had started in her pancreas and spread to her liver, and she is the vet, and clearly knows more than I do! But I always felt that it was the liver damage from when she was 2 that probably was the source of the cancer.
One aside: The one treatment that had the most benefit during her 7 month ordeal, was the vet I took her to in Houston, who did acupuncture on her. Every time we'd tube feed her, she would foam and drool, which is what cats do when they are very queasy. After her first acupuncture treatment, she never had that reaction again. It made her feel so much better, and it got her out of the hospital for the day - she'd been in about 2 weeks, and was used to running free! If I've ever heard a cat communicate anything, it was without a doubt that day. I had put her in the carrier and was in the car headed for the Houston vet (Dr. Mouser; can you imagine?!) I stopped at a light, and looked over at her. She was looking at me, and I felt this enormous wave of gratitude wash over me. It was very touching.
