Tom

(9 months pregnant with Arden)

This week has been a sad one for us. We had to put our sweet little Tommy boy to sleep on Monday afternoon. It came as a total shock. He was fairly young at Seven years old and a picture of health. He was slim, active, we fed him the best wet food (Cats can't digest carbs; therefore dry food is bad for them) he had a beautiful coat and stayed indoors.


Tom's Journey
We had a cat loving neighbor at the apartments we used to live at who let his cats roam free and did not get them fixed. He decided to move and leave all the cats because...."they probably won't survive the winter. hah!" Well they did and so did all of the new babies they were having.
We felt bad for them and started feeding them.
Derek working second shift and every night he got home, we would go downstairs and feed them. Then some would follow us back upstairs, or even be waiting at our door before we fed them.
While I was in bed, Derek started having cat parties. He would leave our door cracked open for HOURS and a few of the cats would come in to rest and play. Tom was there EVERY night. Tom and his buddy, Georgie (we also attempted to keep) would come inside for hours as long as the door stayed open. If the door closed, Tom would FREAK.
One night Tom came inside and wasn't feeling well. He started that gagging thing cats do when they throw up and Derek freaked out and kicked him outside. He ended up throwing up a ton of worms (typical for an outdoor/wild cat). Derek woke me up (at about 2AM to investigate.)
The next night Tom didn't come. I knew this wasn't good and that he must be pretty sick or felt like he was no longer wanted.
My mom called me the next morning as I was on my way to work just to say 'hi'. I told her about Tom and luckily she didn't have to work that day, so she went to the apt to search for him in the woods. When cats get really sick, they tend to hide and like to be alone.
For some reason, my mom decided to cut through our building on the opposite side of our apt to get to the back. She looked to the right and there he was laying under the bushes just under our balcony. She would not have seen him from our side. Tom was feral. He was the most tame of all the 29 cats and let Derek and me pet him on occasion, but he wasn't a cat anyone could just walk up to and pet and NO ONE could pick him up. Well, he was so sick, my mom was able to pick him up and put him in a cage. She took him to the vet. They said they weren't sure if he was going to make it. They ran lots of tests and found out he had a respiratory infection and (of course) worms! They thought he was the sweetest feral cat ever and sent him home with TWO weeks worth of antibiotics. He was so sick that
He came home and I put him in the bathroom with a blanket to rest. He was so sick that he peed on his blanket (Cats are very clean animals so him laying in urine shows how sick he was).
Derek came home and I told him the plan.... D:"OK so two weeks on meds. How are we gonna know that he's the one getting it and not another cat?
K: Well he's going to stay inside so we can keep an eye on him and make sure he gets it all =).
D: Oh no. He's no staying in here for TWO weeks.
K: He has to.
D: WHAT?!?!................
D:Well when that medicine is done, he's going back out.


And what do you know, after a week of Tom not making much progress, I called the vet and they switched him to a new antibiotic that he had to take for TWO MORE weeks.

So after all of the meds were done (you try giving a PILL to a feral cat) and Tom was back to his old self, I opened to door to let him out. He took one look and turned around. He wasn't going back out there and I was thrilled.

We eventually got the runt of the runts (and most feral of them all) so he would have a buddy and Derek made them stay in the bathroom at night. I think he was afraid they would destroy the place (In his defense, he never had any pets before this.) That stopped after I was tired of being attacked every morning. The little runt, Kali would sit on the bathroom counter and every morning I went in there, she swiped at my hand as I tried to turn on the light.
Derek has grown to love cats and always said Tom was so different and awesome. Yes, he was.
Tom was such a good cat. He looked out for the colony of cats at the apartment. He was the leader and protector. He never ripped up furniture or jumped on the counters.
He could jump 5 ft high when playing with Kali. When he really got going, he ran sideways with his back arched.

On Monday afternoon, Nov 14, I was feeding Easton and getting ready to put him down for a nap. Arden left the room and came back and said, "Toddy spit up in my room." I told her I would check it out in a minute. I put Easton in bed and went to her room. She was sitting beside him with some toilet paper, trying to clean his face. He was drooling and had a puddle on the floor. Since he was letting Arden touch him, I knew he was sick.
I went downstairs to entice him with food. He came down and stood in front of his food for a minute, tried to eat, then laid down beside his bowl. I called Derek and he came home immediately and took him to the vet. I was thinking he had a respiratory infection and after some meds, he'd be good to go.
The vet heard a heart murmur and said his temperature was low. He took some blood to run some tests and sent him home. He said with the heart murmur, he may have suffered a blood clot which would make him weak.
Derek went back to work, Tom went to sleep and a couple of hours he woke up and stumbled to his litter box. He collapsed inside and still managed to go. He got out and fell on the floor. He laid there for a minute, panting and then got up and stumbled over to me (I was feeding Easton) and laid down near my feet. After about 2 minutes, he got up and somehow made it into the spare room. I called Derek crying because it was so sad to see. He called the vet and came right home. The vet said he could've had a stroke. He took him back to the vet so they could observe him. This second visit, he put up absolutely no fight and could barely breathe.


I have taken it so hard and these past two days have been rough. The next day, I had to teach Arden's preschool group. I really didn't want to but I sucked it up and did it. Tuesday night, I loaded the kids up and went to the grocery store. I bought two packages of cookies, three cartons of ice cream and pudding. One package of cookies already gone....Isn't that what everyone does when they are depressed?...Or is it just me?!
Every time I'm feeding Easton is when I cry. I guess because I have nothing to keep me occupied.
I know non animal/non-pet people probably think I'm silly, but they truly become another family member. Losing a pet is the hardest part about having them. I told myself years ago- pre tom and kali- I wasn't going to have anymore pets because it's too hard.
Just last week I was thinking about them two and how they were going to be the pets Arden and Easton grew up with. I expected Tom to be around until Arden was at least 10. We also hoped and thought (because she's overweight and possibly diabetic) Kali would pass first because she is lost without Tom. If she can't find him for 5 minutes, she freaks out and cries for him. She unfortunately does not do well with other cats because she is scared of them, so getting a new friend for her is not an option. She seems very sad and only comes out when it's time to eat. I feel so bad for her. She adored Tom.
Looking at these pictures is really hard.

We had a visitor- a couple of years ago, Clarisa's cat stayed with us for a week. Tom loved it.

Tired after a long day at work.






We set up a bird feeder by the window for their entertainment.

(7 months pregnant with Arden)

RIP Tommy boy. Miss you.
I'm grateful for my sweet aunt and Dad (both of whom are animal lovers and get it) for calling to check on me. Love.
OK. I bawled my eyes out writing this. I think I need to go to bed.
P.S. If you see me in the next 3 months, don't talk about it to me. I'd rather not cry in front of you too!