My Dearest Daisy Cat

My dearest Daisy is dying, slowly.  I took her to the vet  last Sunday.  She was having
difficulty breathing,  Time dragged by.  I have cried, and still there are more tears.
Daisy is no ordinary cat.  At age 4, she was diagnosed with endstage cardiomyopathy,
epilepsy, and melanoma on her eye.  The vet gave me very little hope.  She was put on
phenobarb for her seizures which were extremely bad.  But her heart had to wait a bit.
She was started on Benazapril, which works well on cats with this diagnosis.  Two
weeks later she went back to have her cancerous eye removed.  That one thing, which
had to be done, turned her against female vets for the rest of her life

She became an indoor cat forever.  She slept with me.  When I moved to Florida, we
were alone.  Mr. Natural was doing some work in NC.  Daisy and I bonded even closer
than ever.  My house was so close to the hosp, that Daisy would watch me disappear
through the hosp.doors.  On the days I worked, she waged a campaign to keep me at
home.  First, she would get in her cat carrier, and mewl most piteously.  When that
didn't work, she would get on my freshly laundered uniform and meow.  I knew what
she was saying, "Take me with you."

In the morning she'd be waiting, batting on the windowpane and meowing for me,
We'd talk a bit. Then I'd head for the door.  By the time I had opened the door, she
was there, greeting me, meowing her happiness.

The previous year I'd learned how to make jewelry.  Daisy loved it.  She would sit
and watch me with lustful eyes.  When I finished a bracelet, she'd grab it and run.
I'd finally catch her.  And the process would repeat itself.  She was always near me.

She was fiercely loyal and just as fiercely jealous.  I had one fish, Fred, a Siamese
fighting fish.  I kept Fred on top of the refrigerator.  Not faraway enough from Daisy.
however.  Daisy came to me as a starving, bug-catching kitten--and as a cat who
understood English better than most humans.  One "no" and that behavior was not
repeated. She jumped on  the kitchen counter top only once and received the No
word, and she never did that again.  Until Fred.  She jumped on the counter, up to
the top of fridge, managed to get his lid off,caught him with me only a room away.
I thought I heard something; I didn't think it was anything, but I checked.,  I walked
lnto the kitchen and found a very innocent Daisy under the table.  Fred the fish was
laying 2 feet away from her. Dead.  He wasn't bitten--just deprived of his necessary
environment..  She was equally rough on plants.  Until recently.  Plants never lasted
a week.  She could destroy one in less than5 minutes.  Recently, she hasn't bothered
them as much.

The years passed by.  I became terribly dehydrated while working in Southern Pines.
My heart rate dropped.  I couldn't even walk across the floor.  I'd went to doctor,
and just the trip had weakened me to the point that I laid on the sofa and went
to sleep immediately.  I had a glass of Tang beside me, but was too exhausted to
drink it.  While I was sleeping, Daisy got on top of my legs and purred.  Something
about the purring, my heart regulated itself, and I had the strength to drink.  I was
out of work for 3 days.  Daisy was by my side the entire time.

I had no knowledge of my having auto-immune diseases at that time.  The irregular
heart beat continued, but no physician diagnosed me.  Just told it was irregular.  OK,
It was during this time that Daisy saved my life.  I woke up one morning with claw
marks from my shoulder to my wrist.  I had no recall of Daisy scratching me.  She drew
blood.  I realized that my heart quit beating for a very short period of time.  Must have
been scary to not awaken me.

Not even 6 months later, I was hurt at work.  Then again at Physical Therapy.  Daisy
stayed with me throughout it all.  I was so depressed during this time.  I was in pain, and
I knew my life as I'd always known it, had ended.  I tried to focus on jewelry, but that
was a hobby. never meant it to be a career.   Daisy stayed by my side the entire time.
It was during this time that Daisy started having severe seizures.  She was taken to the
the vet and started on phenobarb.  A higher dose made her so drunk that she'd fall down.
So on her 2 week later appt, she had her phenobarb level checked.  And I insisted on
a chest X-ray.  And I do mean insist.  She thought I was nuts--but who was she to
turn down an insistent request.  When she came back to me, she was not smiling.  And
she started by saying, "I have some bad news for you."  And she went on to say that Daisy
had end-stage cardiomyopathy.  Her heart was very enlarged,  She wanted to look her over
more closely.  That's when she saw the melanaoma on the edge of her eyeball.  "How long
has she had this?' My reply:  "I told 2 different vets about it, and both told me to watch her."
She said, "That's a melanoma."  I had just 2 death sentences in less than 10 minutes.
She couldn't have surgery until her heart was a bit improved.

The surgery went well.  Daisy glued herself close to me.   I was still adjusting her
phenobarb, trying to give her the right amount without knocking her out.  When the
eye patch came off and activities were no longer restricted. I could tell that the loss of
the eye had affected her depth perception.  And she hated the vet with a vengeance.  She
wanted to attack her, more specifically, her eyes.  It was so bad that I started with short
term anesthesia just to get blood tests.  She finally finally got a level of medication, was
no longer wheezing, and was doing better over all.

When I moved to this house, the previous owner had brought their cat from Florida--along
with its fleas.  Two weeks later we moved in--without knowing the house was infested
with fleas.  Daisy was acutely allergic to fleas.  She had all these odd neuro symptons.
This is a rare side effect.  I took her to the vet--and she gave her 2 weeks or less to live.
I was devastated.  I spent a lot of time holding her.  The house was bombed x 3 times.
Daisy also had to de-wormed. But two days later after being told she was dying, she
started getting better.  In 4 days, all neuro symptoms disappeared.  But there was no
seizures during this time.  However, I'mcalling the vet tomorrow--it won't hurt her.  It
could be that Mollie had a stray flea and it got carried inside to the cat.  The weakness
and loss of coordination are the same. as then. Hope the Doc is in a good mood tomorrow.

I did change Daisy's phenobarb schedule today to one 16.4 mg pill every 6 hours.  Right now
she is on a 10-4-10-4 schedule  and she's a lot peppier; still sleeping a lot, but falling down less.
And she was started on Prednisone 5mg, and she does seem to be   more active


Kate Thorn