Last week she started to sleep in a dog bed under the living room end table and spent much of her day there. We noticed she was losing some fur and was not interested in eating much. We didn't know how old she was but the symptoms looked like old age and we prepared ourselves for the eventual good bye.
Then in the last few days she went downhill very quickly. We made a vet appointment for yesterday afternoon, thinking we would not be coming back with her. We cuddled as much as we could during the day and wrapped her in her little pink blanket,fully expecting to hold her close as she was put to sleep. When the vet saw her, he recognized she was in bad shape but he decided to do some blood tests and take an X-ray. Our hearts hurt when we heard her cries of pain while she was being X rayed but it was a small bit of hope. Initial thoughts were that perhaps she had been infected by some sort of bacteria so he decided to keep her overnight. We were so excited to think there was a chance to save her and we walked out of the clinic with much lighter hearts - so happy to know we'd have more time with her.
The next day, the happiness bubble burst. The blood tests had been sent out and the vet said Sadie had to be sedated in the morning since her little heart was racing. Three hours later the phone rang - and we heard our little girl had passed away in early afternoon, before the blood tests had come back.
We are left with so many questions now. Did she think we had abandoned her and she just let go? Was there anything we could have done to help her earlier? Should we have asked the vet to put her to sleep while we were there to cuddle her so her last thoughts were of the humans who loved her so much?
But now I will turn to thinking about how she was so much a part of our family and how we treasured her unique qualities. Our sweet little deaf cat - who always knew when food was being served and who found so many places in the house to put her furry print on. She would sit by side with our dogs - never worried about any one biting her. Her short legs made it tough for her to jump on on most things - but she certainly would keep trying. And her favorite place of all - was to climb up on my hubby until she was stretched out on his chest - and then she would close her eyes and knead her paws.
I have pulled out some of my favorite photos of Sadie - the often sleeping gal - who would claim a sleeping place for a couple of weeks and then look for another to lay claim to. The last photo is from a couple of months ago - when she actually made it up "Mount Everest" - the couch which she has often struggled to get up onto. When we found her at the very top we were so surprised - and we figured it must have taken her quite some time to get all the way.
