Lady (1993-2005)

Pepe (1998-2012)

Pepe’s story.

Pepe came into my life when I adopted his sister from a pet store. I couldn’t get Pepe’s cute little face out of my mind so 1 month later I went back to the pet store to see if he was still there. He was the only one left- he was 3 months old. When they were about 2 they both got out side through an open door, his sister never returned home but Pepe came back right away. We had 14 happy years together before he got sick.

In January I first knew something was wrong with Pepe when he missed dinner. I had to drag him out from under the bed. He never hid under the bed unless he was scared. When I got him out I noticed he was wobbly on his feet. I called the vet and took Pepe in for a visit. The vet was concerned about a very large kidney but sent us home after taking blood and giving antibiotics and water under the skin. The next day Pepe was a mess. He couldn’t walk and mouth glued shut from dehydration. I took him back in where they told me his blood test results showed he was in liver and kidney failure. After declining to euthanize he was given IV fluids for 3 days. After the first day he was eating on his own again. His numbers began to stabilize; I thought he was on the mend. Our diagnosis was CKD. However, his kidneys were back to normal within 2 weeks. Next we treated for hemobart because he was now anemic and his WBC continued to wax and wane but never getting low enough to be in range. The antibiotics didn’t help the fevers, nor were they helping his WBC numbers go down. CKD was ruled out, hemobart was ruled out, and cancer was ruled out. They diagnosed him with auto immune. His WBC went down, his red blood count went up. The doctors said he was responding to the steroids. We were over the moon for 2 weeks. Then the abdominal effusion started, he became jaundiced. The doctors now affirmed what we had suspected, Pepe had WET FIP. Then he crashed. Barely able to walk to the kitty box, we had to carry him back when he was done. He started refusing all food, and wobbly walking became his norm. We hand fed him for 6 days, knowing the end was coming. For 2 days he never closed his eyes, although he appeared to sleep. He wanted to cuddle all the time and we wanted him to pass on his own terms so we waited. On his last night he had multiple seizures and began to howl. For the first time he looked to be in pain, and we were in tears. Although we wanted him to die on his own terms we felt we had no choice but to sedate him and take that trip to the vet we had agonized over. Pepe died in my arms, February 25, 2012.

New Blog for pet memorials

I have started this blog to help unite our forever pets. As a pet owner who just recently lost my forever kitty I wanted to have a blog donated to memorials of our animals that have gone to Rainbow Bridge. If you would like your pets memorial posted please send a picture (age of animal or dates of life) with or without a memorial, or story about the animal to Jenny at myforeverpet@gmail.com.