Giving Back To Our Pets

In May of 2009, my 14-year-old cat, Erica, started acting strange, and meowing very loud. She demanded to drink water from the faucet, and her thirst appeared unquenchable. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, or "CRF." It's common among older cats, but virtually undetectable until a major percentage of the kidneys have already failed. They put her on antibiotics, but said her condition was so severe, she would need daily injections of subcutaneous fluids, have to go on a low protein diet, and special medications.

While CRF is terminal, my vet said she could live weeks, months, or even years depending on the response to treatment. I was also given the option of euthanasia, but Erica and I had been through too much together to give up on her, so I decided to do whatever it took to nurse her back to health.

I scoured the Internet and educated myself extensively about her condition. Other than occasional nausea, there's no pain associated with CRF, except in the final stages. Lack of appetite was a potential problem, but she showed no signs of that, and enjoyed the KD diet very much.

The injections were a bit of a challenge at first, especially with Erica's "hiss-tory." But she seemed to know instinctively that I was saving her, so she was a lot more agreeable than I thought she'd be. The vet charged $25 for one bag, or ten-day supply of sub-q fluids, but thank God for Costco, where I discovered you can get a box of 20 for the same price! Little by little, I became very efficient at giving Erica the injections without causing any discomfort. She actually looked forward to them and felt much better after receiving them.

For several months, everything was cool. However, on Dec. 27th, 2010, Erica woke up and couldn't see a thing. I knew blindness was a potential side effect of CRF, but remembered reading there was a fifty percent chance the vision could return if the cat was put on blood pressure medicine within 24 hours of the onset. My vet prescribed the medicine over the phone, and I picked it up right away.

Three weeks later, Erica's vision miraculously returned, and if you think I'm grateful and appreciative, imagine how Erica felt! A once hissing, growling, raging bull of a cat was now an appreciative, purring, picture of peace, and she remained that way for the duration of her life, which came to an end on April 21st, 2011. It was also my 38th birthday, so it was taken as a sign not to grieve, but to celebrate the 16 years life and love we shared.

In the end, I was blessed with almost two years of extra Erica because of the choices I made, and she even inspired me to write a book! Though her story will now live on forever, the real point of this article is inspire others to do the same for their pets, should they ever find themselves in a similar situation. Yes, it takes getting out of your comfort zone, costs, money, and is not always convenient. But in my opinion, our pets do so much for us, it's the least we can do in return!