Cujo, our camping buddy.......

[Rusty]

We lost our camping buddy this morning.

He was diagnosed with a heart tumor a little over 3 weeks ago, a tumor that was partially growing inside his heart. At that time, we were told that he had about 6 to 8 months left. Then, last Wednesday we took him to the oncologist at the Animal Hospital in Calgary. After running X-Rays, she was able to confirm that the tumor was definitely cancereous and had already spread to his lungs.

Unfortunately, because the tumor was an extremely aggressive one, we were told that there was really nothing that could be done for him other than keeping him comfortable and pain free for the time he had left. The oncologist estimated approximately a couple of weeks to a couple of months at the most.

Because the tumor on his heart was patially growing inside his heart as well, it almost completely blocked one of the main blood vessels to the heart which was causing fluids to back up in his stomach cavity. After the ultrasound that first revealed the tumor 3 weeks ago, he was placed on drugs to help drain the fluids from his stomach. This worked for only a few days. By the time we met with the oncologist, his stomach was disdended with fluids again. They performed a "stomach tap" on him, which is a minor procedure where they insert a catheter-like kind of thing in his stomach to drain the fluids.

Although we never felt that he was in pain from the fluids, we know that he was in great discomfort and the stomach tap greatly helped to relieve his discomfort. We were just so very sad to know that pretty soon we will have to have him put to sleep. He has been such a delightful little companion all these years, it just breaks our hearts...

The vet and the oncologist were quite surprised at how aggressive his cancer was. They said he definitely does not follow any of the text books. It's hard. He has always had a clean bill of health until this. When we returned from our holidays last August, we took him to the vet to have a cough he had looked after. He was put on medication and the cough cleared up nicely. At the end of September, at his annual check up, all was okay and he was doing good. All of a sudden in mid-October, we started noticing that he appeared to be getting very thin on his back, but that his belly was getting very big. By late October, it wasn't improving so we brought him to the vet.
Blood tests were done but all came back inconclusive as all his levels were in the normal range.

We decided to change his diet and placed him on an organic brand of dog food. It seemed to worked and his belly started to go down.
Unfortunately, by the Holidays, it was starting to grow again and fairly rapidly too. Also, he started vomitting a lot. We brought him to the vet and asked for an ultrasound and now you now the rest...

Since I had to be away a couple of weekends ago we celebrated his final Birthday a day early. He had a small steak for supper, served on China and for the first time ever, he sat at the table with us... His energy level was pretty good that night, Luckily I was on night shifts last week so it was nice to have someone home with him around the clock, in case he took a turn for the worse.

This past weekend was an up and down weekend, at times he was full of you know what, and for the most part he was laying down attempting to find a more comfortable position as the fliud build up was difficult for him, then he turned for the worse with a tar like substance leaking out of his bum, it was difficult for him last night as he spent most of the night trying to find a comfortable position, all the time the tar was leaking. My wife researched what that tar could have been, our worse fears were realised when we found out that the tar was in fact internal bleeding.

It was decided this morning that we should put him to sleep, as the most humane and dignified way would be to euthanize him, so we bundled him up in a big blanket and took him to the vets for the last time, my wife held his head and I laid my head down on his stomach and we said our last goodbyes.

We will truly miss our camping buddy, but he is in a much better place.

[Leafs_Pam]

Rusty, I am so sorry to hear this. I just cried for you. Our pets are family. Even though we know they have to move on, it still hurts a lot. This Friday will be 2 years since my kitty died of cancer. I was only home a short while from Christmas in January 2006 when I noticed she was getting thin. I took her to the vet and she had Asthma and Cancer. They told me when kittys reach 12 or 13 years of age they can get cancer. They told me the Fires in 2003 were probably the reason she ended up with it. (makes me wonder what the 2 fires did to me.) She was a special kitty and I still think of her and I'm still sad she had to get that awful disease. It took me a year to get to the point where I could get another kitty. Although I like my new kitty a lot, she hasn't replaced Princess in my heart. I hope in time you can find another pet. A new dog won't replace Cujo but maybe eventually a new pet will fill the void left by Cujo.

[stugats1]

Geez Rusty so sorry too hear that. I am a huge animal lover. I know how hard that must have been.. I was getting sadder and sadder reading your story. I guess you focus on all the funa and enjoyment he brought you and your family.My cat (Burnsy.. after Pat Burns) is getting to the point where we may have to put him down in the near future. I just don't want to think about it. I get so upset.. But I don't want my guy suffering either..

[Rusty]

Stu you have no idea how hard of a decision it was to make, I had the same feelings as you do right now, I was in denial for most of the time since he was diagnosed, we finally said the night before we put him down no more suffering. The problem with animals is that they do not show pain like you or I, you would never know he was in pain, the only indication we got was he moaned a lot, it was the pressure of the fluid build up in his chest.

Pam I feel for you as well, one of my alltime fave cats we had to let go back in 79 when we moved from Toronto (Milton actually) to New Brunswick, we were stupid as we took him out to the farmlands just outside town and let him go, I will never ever do that again! I would get myself checked as well.

[Gerard]

I can't read that right now. Maybe not for a long time. Rest assured my thoughts are with you.

[Leafs_Pam]

I was in denial with Princess. I was hoping she would get better. She did for about 2 weeks after the medication they gave me for her and having them hydrate her a couple of times. I can't begin to tell you the tears I shed when she passed away. She died trying to reach me. It was 5:15am and I heard her make a gasp. It woke me up and I reached for her as she passed. She was reaching for me. I had adopted her May 1, 1996 and she died the day after Valentine's Day in 2006. I had adopted her from the SPCA after she had been abandoned. She had also been abused. I brought her from an abused very frightend kitty so a warm and loving kitty that totally trusted me. It was gut wrenching when she passed on. Rusty is right. They don't show their pain like we do.

Jim, I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. I know just how you feel about it. It is so hard to lose a pet. They are family. They love us and trust us unconditionally. We could take lessons from our pets on how to love and trust.

Rusty, I am so sorry to hear about the kitty you had in 1979. I understand what you were saying. At the time you thought that was the best thing to do. I am guilty of doing the same thing back when I was 21. After the fact, I realized it was the wrong thing to do and I would never do it again. Its hard to rationalize sometimes. We really can't be faulted when we think we are doing the best thing for our pet. Sometimes it takes us doing something like that before it sinks in exactly what we have really done.