Yesterday reader “pghwelshgirl” commented in the Hili thread that her beloved cat Thomasina had died at the age of eight. The cause was sudden hind limb paralysis caused by a “saddle thrombosis” (a blood clot), and pghwelshgirl added that if you see this in your cat, get it to a vet immediately. Sadly, Thomasina didn’t make it, and her staff added this comment (pghwelshgirl was involved with cat rescue for many years):
Thomasina came to us with a kindle of stray kittens and their mom eight years ago, back when we were doing rescue work. She was scrawny, sick with URI, and about the most unattractive kitten I’d ever seen. But she responded to meds and love, and blossomed into a beauty a few months later. All the other cats found homes, and when Thomasina was still with us months later, we decided to keep her. She looked very much like the cat in “Pussycat’s Christmas”. [JAC: Image below]
She was the only one of our cats who didn’t have any behavioral or medical issues. If anyone had told me that we’d lose a cat this week, Thomasina would have been the last cat I’d have guessed. She’s lying under a handknit cat blanket with some sprigs of rosemary over her gentle loving heart until I make the call to arrange her cremation.
Give all your moggies an extra snuggle today.
I’ve had cats all my adult life, have always had multiple cat household, and did foster/rescue for a couple of years. So I’ve said goodbye to over 15 at this point – from young adults to one who lived to 20 1/2. The old age, natural deaths are sad but bearable – it’s the young cats, the cancers, the no-warning ones (like Thomasina) – that are harder to incorporate.
I requested a photo to give the cat a proper memorial, and got two old photos and this response:
I was chagrined to find that I had no recent photo of Thomasina. For the past few years, The Joy of Cats has been more often been the Heartbreak, Expense, or Chaos of Cats. Not that there haven’t been compensations, even triumphs – like the two FIV+ cats who are now thriving. But we’ve experienced some extraordinary medical and other complications with several cats, and taking photos has fallen to the wayside.Two photos are attached: first one is Thomasina in her still-awkward kitten stage, about 8 weeks old. Second one is when she was about 5 months old and really blossoming.She and her brother Squealer never actually meowed, but made a kind of aspirant “ah” sound. I used to ask her “What does Thomasina say?” and she would usually oblige me by “ahhing” in response. I thought I would be asking her that question for many more years.
RIP Thomasina—with her lovely ruff and funny voice.
And here’s the cat from the highly rated children’s book “A Pussycat’s Christmas“:
Pghwelshgirl you are a wonderful person! 🙂
Does FIV mean what I think it means, HIV for cats? I thought HIV was invented by God to punish teh gays, not the strays.
Yes it does.
Our cat, Normsky, has it. He was a young stray who adopted us and after we took him to the vet for his jabs, snip and health check we were informed that he was FIV+.
According to the local vet it is quite high among the stray cat population and Normsky most likely caught it as the result of a deep bite acquired in a fight.
We’ve had him coming up for 6 years and he is in good health. If he does have some sort of illness the course of medication he is given, depending on what’s wrong with him, is twice as longs as that which would normally be given to a cat.
The fact that he is infected also means that we will probably stay a one cat household.
Normsky isn’t necessarily sentenced to life as a single cat (unless you and he prefer that). Your vet is right about FIV being common among unneutered stray/feral males who fight. As I understand it, the veterinary and rescue community believe that deep puncture bite wounds are the primary means of transmitting the disease. It’s not airborne or spread through casual contact like grooming, sharing bowls, or even typical cat play. Our two FIV+ cats are fully integrated into our household with our vets’ approval.
Glad to hear that Normsky is doing well despite living with FIV. Hope he continues to do so!
The eyes of Thomasina in that kitten picture are impossible to defend against. Why bother to try anyway?
It is hard to lose them. I feel for you Pghwelshgirl.
Losing a cat is possibly the worst thing and watching someone else lose their cat, strangely enough, is almost as bad. Their life is far too short. I will have to give Emma and Bumper a few extra hugs today.
I am so sorry for your grief. You gave Thomasina 8 wonderful years…the time we have with our beloved pets is so short and precious. You make the world a better place with your kindness pghwelshgirl, and Thomasina knew that! Take care. I’m glad she had you, and you, her.
And crossedpaws:-). Very sorry about Thomasina.
A very sad happening. My three owners will get an extra snuggle in her honor.
So sorry for your loss again.
Clots in the legs seem to be a higher risk for humans than I thought. I know the medication I’m on can cause them (hmmmm come to think of it, I’ve had some bad leg cramps….damn it, I don’t need a stroke!!). A friend posted on his FB that he met a woman at a party who died the next day from a stroke that resulted from a clot in her leg after routine out-patient knee surgery.
In case you younger folks were wondering what middle age is like, this is what we talk about. A lot.
I was on holiday a couple of years back when I got an itchy feeling up one leg. So when I got back home a week later I went to the quack, thinking it was some sort of skin irritation – and he put on his ‘this is really serious’ face and told me I had deep vein thrombosis. Put me on some medication and told me to be very careful. Obviously, I was lucky (since I’m still here). It’s a little hard to comprehend that an itchy leg can kill you.
Yeah, a friend of mine had a similar experience (and this happened when he was in his 30s) but he had a swollen leg & a lot of pain. He was back and forth to the hospital and his wife had to give him blood thinner shots for a time. His dad had several strokes so I guess it runs in his family.
What a screw up our evolution is with the clots – I blame walking upright.
I was just ruminating on evolution today (for no apparent reason) and I concluded that it must be the most inefficient, impractical, wasteful, slow process of ‘design’ that could ever be conceived. If Lamarckism could be made to work it would surely improve its efficiency by an order of magnitude. Intelligent design would be better still, of course.
It is terrible, I know. And Thomasina looks like my current cats. My sympathies go out to you.
Seems like pghwelshgirl gave that kitty a nice life. And vice versa.
Gasping and tearing up at this amazing tribute to Thomasina. I was expecting a few lines and a photo, and this – wow, just wow.
Everyone needs to tell their story, and for it to be heard. The two do not necessarily go together. Thank you to Jerry for telling Thomasina’s story, and by association, mine. And thanks to ALL of you for hearing – and responding.
Such kindness, compassion, and generosity – I am overcome. Jerry, you’re a mensch.
Jeannine
aka pghwelshgirl
Oh…it’s Jeannine so it must be a genuine cat person. My wife, also a cat person, is named Janine. Just spelled different.
Losing a pet (especially unexpectedly) is a traumatic experience. Time is the only cure it seems. Reading this reminded me of a couple dogs we’ve lost this past year. sob.
She sure was a cute little girl. Don’t know that life makes anything more bearable as we move along through it but, we’ll all make the same exit from it at some point. At least someone was there for this little ragamuffin and made room in their busy life to give, share and receive the lovins’ they make possible. RIP Thomasina.
Oh man, I’m so sorry for your loss. She sure is a cutie pie.
My cats are getting an extra snuggle right away.
I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful and loving cat, Thomasina. He looks like a loving, furry friend that will be sorely missed.
I’m sorry for your loss.
No cat deserves to go so soon and like that…and, particularly, because of a design flaw. But thank you, Jeannine, for giving Thomasina the life before that which all cats deserve and any would be happy to live.
b&
I’m so sorry, Jeannine. I know there are no words that can soothe the grief you’re experiencing from losing such a wonderful being in your life. Hold on to a special memory of Thomasina, and let the other good memories flood in with time.
Saddle thrombi are simply wretched – we lose too many sweet moggies to them.
What a pretty cat Thomasina turned into! I’m so sorry for the loss of your feline friend. Thanks for sharing her story, I love the description of her non-meow!
So very sorry about your loss. With time, may the memories of her life bring you more joy – so that she may live on in the only way we know.
The postscript: I sing to my cats. I usually play music and sing to mark their passing. For years it was “kitten little”, sung to the tune of the Christmas song “Infant holy”. Sang it to Thomasina last week, then remembered it was a Polish carol, which now makes it more meaningful, because Hili.
In the film “Babe” about the sheep-herding pig, the farmer sings an ailing Babe a song based on the theme from Saint-Saens organ symphony. I hadn’t thought about that scene from Babe in years, then remembered that my new CD from another welsh girl, harpist Claire Jones, features a lovely arrangement of that theme. So Thomasina was sung to her sleep with two special songs.
Thanks again to everyone for your kind words and observations. It was so helpful to hear condolences minus the usual spiritual stuff.
Jeannine aka pghwelshgirl