Zero

Zero was the best cat we’ve ever had. He was very social and friendly. He would come up to anyone that came to our house and rub up against them and purr. He loved people and other cats. Zero was very patient and tolerant with our two kids. I have tons of photos of him dressed up in everything from shirts to hats to headbands. He even seemed to like his temporary fashions! Zero would come when you called him, just like a dog. All you had to do was snap your fingers and he would come running. He also played fetch. And, one of his favorite toys happened to be wrapped maxi pads. He would steal them from the bathroom closet and bat them around the house. One day he got one stuck on his claw and as he shook his paw to release it, it went flying across the room and hit me in the face. I joke that he “threw” a maxi pad at me.  It was so hard to say goodby to Zero. He wasn’t that old and his illness seemed to come out of nowhere. We first noticed his labored breathing about 2 weeks ago. I didn’t think it was that serious so I just made a regular vet appt. for him. By the time we got him into the vet, it was pretty bad. They did a pleural tap and drained about 420 cc of fluid from his chest. After that, he seemed back to his old self. I thought it was over. But, 4 days later he got bad again. It was a Sunday night and we ended up at the ER with him til 1:00 am. They did another tap and drained more fluid. They also did more diagnostics but nothing definitive was showing why the fluid was building up. It wasn’t bacterial, it wasn’t his liver, his bloodwork was normal, no masses could be seen on the xray. It made it hard to decide what to do. We decided the next day to schedule Home to Heaven to come out and put him out of his misery as it seemed hopeless. We set it for Thursday since my husband had to leave town an d wouldn’t be back until then. I thought 3 days would be okay and he could make it til then. And he was again doing well. Acting his old self. So,I started second guessing the decision to put him down. I read up on the condition and decided that he could beat it. I called my vet and got Rutin and some special food to try to treat it. I was hopeful. I cancelled my appt. with Home to Heaven. But, once again, he quickly deteriorated. By Wed. night, he was bad again. I was very close to taking him back to the ER to have them do the euthanasia there. But, I really didn’t want him to be in a scary place. I prayed he could make it through the night and the next morning at 8:00 am I called Home to Heaven to reset his appt. They were very accomodating and we able to come out that same day at noon. The minutes seemed like hours. His breathing was labored and he could not lay down. He would sit in one spot for hours and stare at the back of the couch. When I would pet him, he would pur r a little but he seemed like he didn’t want to be petted. I was dying on the inside. Come on 12 o’clock. But, then at 11:00 he got a surge of energy. He got up and walked across the house and started rubbing up against my son and purring really loud. He wasn’t breathing that hard. We petted him for a long time. I got a plate of wet food and he scarfed it down. I was worried that he was okay and I was doing the wrong thing, but I had read that pets sometimes get a burst of adrenalyn right before they die. So, I figured that was it. The doctor showed up on time and we proceeded with the procedure. She was so very nice and he immediately came up to her and rubbed his head on her hand and purred really loud. She gave him the first injection and it was hard to watch because his body was laboring with the breath more when he was tranquilized. it took him a few minutes to lay down and fall asleep. His eyes were open. Then she said he was ready and gave him the final shot. Within o ne second, he took a last gasp and was gone. It was so hard to watch but I am grateful we were able to be there with him and talk to him the whole time. I am so very grateful for Home to Heaven. They are so caring and make you feel so much better about everything. They take such good care to do the procedure, to make the pawprint keepsake and to wrap his body up in the baby blanket when she took him to the car. You are angels. Thank you for helping Zero end his suffering. We will miss you Zero. We love you and you will always be in our hearts.