My seven-year old was born with FIV, though I’m not sure whether her final sickness was related. She’d been a little picky with her food, but she was still chasing toys and spent her time with us (no hiding). Suddenly, she started throwing up, drinking lots of water and getting sick again. We took her to the emergency clinic. They found a mass in her stomach and said that her spleen was leaking bacteria into her body which would cause sepsis. They suggested exploratory surgery with a four-day recovery time in the clinic. They said she might not make it. through the surgery. We had to make a quick decision and ultimately decided not to put her through that stress — especially since they had no idea if this would help her. We also wanted to hug her and be with her rather than lose her in the operating table.

We‘re so devastated. Over the past couple of weeks, we‘ve been removing her cardboard boxes, cat furniture, and cat window screens. I still have her little bed and put her favorite toys in a cute container for the shelf. We don’t want another kitty yet, as we can’t just replace her.

How long before the floods of tears wane? We both feel guilty about letting her go, but at the same time, we didn’t want her to wake up confused and scared in the clinic or let her suffer through more procedures as it sounded like she was already suffering so much and she probably had a fatal condition.

Thanks for the vent. We loved our Nelly so much and I don’t expect our grieving process to slow anytime soon.