This was our "Lil Man".
August of 2008 we found him sitting in the road, in our subdivision about 9:30 p.m. He appeared to be dazed and confused, and was very weak. He started following me home but staggered…….of course I picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. Being already fixed and front declawed, we knew he belonged to someone. The next few days were spent trying to find his owner, not believing that this sweet, gentle creature had been dumped. As is the norm, no one responded to our ads.
Already having multiple cats in our house, I really did not want to take another one in. He seemed happy and content being outside, but then we were coming home from work and finding him across the busy road, or in our neighbors garage, or wandering our subdivision; we knew we had to do something.
We took him to the vet to get him all checked out in preparation to incorporate him into our family, and then we learned his fate. He was in renal failure………. and at this point, there was no way to tell how bad his kidneys really were except that his numbers from his blood test were not good.
With his very sweet disposition and beautiful eyes………this little guy had already stolen our hearts. We were given several options and decided to give him IV fluids for several days to see how his numbers looked. They did not improve dramatically but we noticed an energy level we had not seen before. He bounced around the house like he had lived there forever, and even though our resident cats did not particularly like having a new addition, they seemed to accept him.
He would meet us at the door every day when we came home from work, followed us everywhere and had to be near us whenever we were home. He genuinely seemed grateful that we had taken him in and made him feel better.
Closer to Thanksgiving, we could tell he was not feeling well. We have since referred to this time as "crashing". We decided to do another round of IV fluids, except this time it would be supplemented with subcutaneous fluids that we would administer from home on a regular basis. He did bounce back and having the extra fluids we gave him, seemed to maintain him for awhile.
In the pictures I posted, you could see where his right leg is shaved where they set up the IV. He loved to lay on you so whenever someone was laying on the couch or taking a nap, Lil Man would be right there, so it was very easy to snap pictures of him. The last picture I posted was what we used for our Christmas cards that year.
I will have to say my husband and Lil Man bonded tremendously during this time. I will have to hand it to my husband. He had the patience to administer subQ fluids, almost daily now in order for Lil Man to feel good, but even he knew he could not sustain this forever.
In March, Lil Man crashed again and this time it was evident he was not going to bounce back. We decided to let him go on the 26th and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do ~ watch the life and spark in his eyes, go dim.
Looking back, I have often wondered whether it was worth putting the little guy through the many hospital visits and all of the subQ fluids, and I always come back with the same conclusion.
YES.
We don't know what kind of life he led before he found us. If he was indeed dumped, his owners didn't care about him and he probably did not have a very loving life. We were able to provide him some love and security for the short time he was with us, and I can tell you he gave us much more than we gave to him. Somehow he was able to reach our souls and he left a lasting impression.
He was LOVED!
Lil Man, you will never be forgotten.
Sympathy card from our vet office was signed by 8 people and we got messages like:
Little Man will always be one of my favorite patients. He was so lucky to have a family like yours and he will be deeply missed. ~ Chelsey
We will all miss "little man" alot. He was such a good patient. ~ Heather
We are both so sorry about your loss of Little Man. He was so lucky to find you two and spend the end of his life loved so much! ~ Dr. Phil and Dr. Sarah
He was such a love bug when he was here - we will miss him too. ~ Dr. Erin
I am so sorry you lost "Little Man". He may have only been with you for a short time but left a BIG paw print on your hearts. ~ Susan the vet tech that took care of him the most.
August of 2008 we found him sitting in the road, in our subdivision about 9:30 p.m. He appeared to be dazed and confused, and was very weak. He started following me home but staggered…….of course I picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. Being already fixed and front declawed, we knew he belonged to someone. The next few days were spent trying to find his owner, not believing that this sweet, gentle creature had been dumped. As is the norm, no one responded to our ads.
Already having multiple cats in our house, I really did not want to take another one in. He seemed happy and content being outside, but then we were coming home from work and finding him across the busy road, or in our neighbors garage, or wandering our subdivision; we knew we had to do something.
We took him to the vet to get him all checked out in preparation to incorporate him into our family, and then we learned his fate. He was in renal failure………. and at this point, there was no way to tell how bad his kidneys really were except that his numbers from his blood test were not good.
With his very sweet disposition and beautiful eyes………this little guy had already stolen our hearts. We were given several options and decided to give him IV fluids for several days to see how his numbers looked. They did not improve dramatically but we noticed an energy level we had not seen before. He bounced around the house like he had lived there forever, and even though our resident cats did not particularly like having a new addition, they seemed to accept him.
He would meet us at the door every day when we came home from work, followed us everywhere and had to be near us whenever we were home. He genuinely seemed grateful that we had taken him in and made him feel better.
Closer to Thanksgiving, we could tell he was not feeling well. We have since referred to this time as "crashing". We decided to do another round of IV fluids, except this time it would be supplemented with subcutaneous fluids that we would administer from home on a regular basis. He did bounce back and having the extra fluids we gave him, seemed to maintain him for awhile.
In the pictures I posted, you could see where his right leg is shaved where they set up the IV. He loved to lay on you so whenever someone was laying on the couch or taking a nap, Lil Man would be right there, so it was very easy to snap pictures of him. The last picture I posted was what we used for our Christmas cards that year.
I will have to say my husband and Lil Man bonded tremendously during this time. I will have to hand it to my husband. He had the patience to administer subQ fluids, almost daily now in order for Lil Man to feel good, but even he knew he could not sustain this forever.
In March, Lil Man crashed again and this time it was evident he was not going to bounce back. We decided to let him go on the 26th and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do ~ watch the life and spark in his eyes, go dim.
Looking back, I have often wondered whether it was worth putting the little guy through the many hospital visits and all of the subQ fluids, and I always come back with the same conclusion.
YES.
We don't know what kind of life he led before he found us. If he was indeed dumped, his owners didn't care about him and he probably did not have a very loving life. We were able to provide him some love and security for the short time he was with us, and I can tell you he gave us much more than we gave to him. Somehow he was able to reach our souls and he left a lasting impression.
He was LOVED!
Lil Man, you will never be forgotten.
Sympathy card from our vet office was signed by 8 people and we got messages like:
Little Man will always be one of my favorite patients. He was so lucky to have a family like yours and he will be deeply missed. ~ Chelsey
We will all miss "little man" alot. He was such a good patient. ~ Heather
We are both so sorry about your loss of Little Man. He was so lucky to find you two and spend the end of his life loved so much! ~ Dr. Phil and Dr. Sarah
He was such a love bug when he was here - we will miss him too. ~ Dr. Erin
I am so sorry you lost "Little Man". He may have only been with you for a short time but left a BIG paw print on your hearts. ~ Susan the vet tech that took care of him the most.
This was our "Lil Man".
August of 2008 we found him sitting in the road, in our subdivision about 9:30 p.m. He appeared to be dazed and confused, and was very weak. He started following me home but staggered…….of course I picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. Being already fixed and front declawed, we knew he belonged to someone. The next few days were spent trying to find his owner, not believing that this sweet, gentle creature had been dumped. As is the norm, no one responded to our ads.
Already having multiple cats in our house, I really did not want to take another one in. He seemed happy and content being outside, but then we were coming home from work and finding him across the busy road, or in our neighbors garage, or wandering our subdivision; we knew we had to do something.
We took him to the vet to get him all checked out in preparation to incorporate him into our family, and then we learned his fate. He was in renal failure………. and at this point, there was no way to tell how bad his kidneys really were except that his numbers from his blood test were not good.
With his very sweet disposition and beautiful eyes………this little guy had already stolen our hearts. We were given several options and decided to give him IV fluids for several days to see how his numbers looked. They did not improve dramatically but we noticed an energy level we had not seen before. He bounced around the house like he had lived there forever, and even though our resident cats did not particularly like having a new addition, they seemed to accept him.
He would meet us at the door every day when we came home from work, followed us everywhere and had to be near us whenever we were home. He genuinely seemed grateful that we had taken him in and made him feel better.
Closer to Thanksgiving, we could tell he was not feeling well. We have since referred to this time as "crashing". We decided to do another round of IV fluids, except this time it would be supplemented with subcutaneous fluids that we would administer from home on a regular basis. He did bounce back and having the extra fluids we gave him, seemed to maintain him for awhile.
In the pictures I posted, you could see where his right leg is shaved where they set up the IV. He loved to lay on you so whenever someone was laying on the couch or taking a nap, Lil Man would be right there, so it was very easy to snap pictures of him. The last picture I posted was what we used for our Christmas cards that year.
I will have to say my husband and Lil Man bonded tremendously during this time. I will have to hand it to my husband. He had the patience to administer subQ fluids, almost daily now in order for Lil Man to feel good, but even he knew he could not sustain this forever.
In March, Lil Man crashed again and this time it was evident he was not going to bounce back. We decided to let him go on the 26th and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do ~ watch the life and spark in his eyes, go dim.
Looking back, I have often wondered whether it was worth putting the little guy through the many hospital visits and all of the subQ fluids, and I always come back with the same conclusion.
YES.
We don't know what kind of life he led before he found us. If he was indeed dumped, his owners didn't care about him and he probably did not have a very loving life. We were able to provide him some love and security for the short time he was with us, and I can tell you he gave us much more than we gave to him. Somehow he was able to reach our souls and he left a lasting impression.
He was LOVED!
Lil Man, you will never be forgotten.
Sympathy card from our vet office was signed by 8 people and we got messages like:
Little Man will always be one of my favorite patients. He was so lucky to have a family like yours and he will be deeply missed. ~ Chelsey
We will all miss "little man" alot. He was such a good patient. ~ Heather
We are both so sorry about your loss of Little Man. He was so lucky to find you two and spend the end of his life loved so much! ~ Dr. Phil and Dr. Sarah
He was such a love bug when he was here - we will miss him too. ~ Dr. Erin
I am so sorry you lost "Little Man". He may have only been with you for a short time but left a BIG paw print on your hearts. ~ Susan the vet tech that took care of him the most.
August of 2008 we found him sitting in the road, in our subdivision about 9:30 p.m. He appeared to be dazed and confused, and was very weak. He started following me home but staggered…….of course I picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. Being already fixed and front declawed, we knew he belonged to someone. The next few days were spent trying to find his owner, not believing that this sweet, gentle creature had been dumped. As is the norm, no one responded to our ads.
Already having multiple cats in our house, I really did not want to take another one in. He seemed happy and content being outside, but then we were coming home from work and finding him across the busy road, or in our neighbors garage, or wandering our subdivision; we knew we had to do something.
We took him to the vet to get him all checked out in preparation to incorporate him into our family, and then we learned his fate. He was in renal failure………. and at this point, there was no way to tell how bad his kidneys really were except that his numbers from his blood test were not good.
With his very sweet disposition and beautiful eyes………this little guy had already stolen our hearts. We were given several options and decided to give him IV fluids for several days to see how his numbers looked. They did not improve dramatically but we noticed an energy level we had not seen before. He bounced around the house like he had lived there forever, and even though our resident cats did not particularly like having a new addition, they seemed to accept him.
He would meet us at the door every day when we came home from work, followed us everywhere and had to be near us whenever we were home. He genuinely seemed grateful that we had taken him in and made him feel better.
Closer to Thanksgiving, we could tell he was not feeling well. We have since referred to this time as "crashing". We decided to do another round of IV fluids, except this time it would be supplemented with subcutaneous fluids that we would administer from home on a regular basis. He did bounce back and having the extra fluids we gave him, seemed to maintain him for awhile.
In the pictures I posted, you could see where his right leg is shaved where they set up the IV. He loved to lay on you so whenever someone was laying on the couch or taking a nap, Lil Man would be right there, so it was very easy to snap pictures of him. The last picture I posted was what we used for our Christmas cards that year.
I will have to say my husband and Lil Man bonded tremendously during this time. I will have to hand it to my husband. He had the patience to administer subQ fluids, almost daily now in order for Lil Man to feel good, but even he knew he could not sustain this forever.
In March, Lil Man crashed again and this time it was evident he was not going to bounce back. We decided to let him go on the 26th and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do ~ watch the life and spark in his eyes, go dim.
Looking back, I have often wondered whether it was worth putting the little guy through the many hospital visits and all of the subQ fluids, and I always come back with the same conclusion.
YES.
We don't know what kind of life he led before he found us. If he was indeed dumped, his owners didn't care about him and he probably did not have a very loving life. We were able to provide him some love and security for the short time he was with us, and I can tell you he gave us much more than we gave to him. Somehow he was able to reach our souls and he left a lasting impression.
He was LOVED!
Lil Man, you will never be forgotten.
Sympathy card from our vet office was signed by 8 people and we got messages like:
Little Man will always be one of my favorite patients. He was so lucky to have a family like yours and he will be deeply missed. ~ Chelsey
We will all miss "little man" alot. He was such a good patient. ~ Heather
We are both so sorry about your loss of Little Man. He was so lucky to find you two and spend the end of his life loved so much! ~ Dr. Phil and Dr. Sarah
He was such a love bug when he was here - we will miss him too. ~ Dr. Erin
I am so sorry you lost "Little Man". He may have only been with you for a short time but left a BIG paw print on your hearts. ~ Susan the vet tech that took care of him the most.
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