Mihr, and her sibling/brother Duma were rescue cats. They were the only two in a litter born to a feral mother cat that did not know how to care for them. Hand-raised and bottle fed by The Feline Rescue Association of Owings Mills they thrived and I adopted them together at 5 months old December 26, 2009.
Mihr started having urinary tract infections at approximately 2 years old. When they became so frequent that she was on antibiotics more than she was off the suggestion was to look to see if she had stones. She did in fact have bladder stones. A prescription food to prevent future stones and dissolve what was there is often the answer. At 4 years old the food clearly was not working and she needed surgery to remove the stones.
The next two years (4-6) seemed to be good ones for her. Starting last July (2016) she had lost some weight but the vet was not clear why. In August I noticed that her ears were yellow and my mind jumped to jaundice. The vet confirmed it. She had an unnamed liver disease. It took liver enzymes, antibiotics, subcutaneous fluids, appetite stimulant and syringe feeding every hour for her to finally started to gain some weight back by November. She had about 4 good months.
Starting in April she was losing weight rapidly but this time around was ravenous, could not seem to get enough to eat. Every possible diagnostic test came back negative which left only one thing - Gastric Cancer. She was started on prednisolone which usually results in some weight gain but she continued to lose weight. The dose was increased twice with no slowing of the weight loss. Once the gastric cancer was diagnosed I knew that at some point I faced euthanasia for her.
The week I made the decision she was no longer purring, didn't want to be on my lap and was starting to suffer. There was no hope of her getting better like she did with the liver disease. She was terminal. I needed to let her be in peace. July 26, 2017 two days before my birthday. Mihr was 7 years and 11 months old.
Mihr had obviously faced in her lifetime too many medical issues but she was loved and loved back. I think that's all any of us can ask for.
