The following is an email I sent to those who knew him. By the way, the following day I adopted a dog. Nothing could ever replace that cat, but Percy, the 6 1/2 year old Shih Tzu is a strong second.
Sad news -
Yesterday, I came home after running some errands and Elwood, my 14.5-year old orange Maine Coon who weighed more than 20 pounds until just recently, was lying on the floor in my bedroom crying. He couldn't get up. He had thrown up and pooped all over the carpet and there was a good amount of blood as well. At first I thought maybe a cat had somehow gotten in and fought with him because a book I'd just bought ended up on the floor and was completely torn apart with paper everywhere. But he didn't have marks on his body. I wrapped him in a towel and drove him to the Vet's.
They told me he had suffered an arterial thromboembolism. It's a blood clot that breaks off from the heart and travels through the artery. In his case, it blocked the blood flow to his back two legs and his tail. His back half was actually cold to the touch and he couldn't feel anything. His temperature was 91 which is about 10 degrees below a cat's normal temp. The blood flow was cut off, which results in killing live tissue . It happened so fast. Prognosis is with 90% certainty that another blood clot will likely recur within the next 6 months. And that is if the surgery to restore blood flow to the remaining areas of his lower half that hadn't yet died off was successful. The vet told me that it looked grave which was the worst level there was he said. The parts of Elwood that had already been killed off would probably have to have been amputated and he would have had to pull himself around with his front two paws or become skateboard kitty. He could barely get around on 4 legs with that belly of his as most of you know. The likelihood of his not making it through the surgery was 90%. Apparently, he had heart disease and I never knew it. There was no choice at that point but to make sure he wasn't in pain. They gave him some pain medicine and I held him in my lap for hours before during and after they finally put him to sleep. There was no way I wanted him to do that without having his mom there - he loved me a ridiculous amount... despite all the times I bailed on him for work and travel.
I'm picking up his ashes next week and putting them near the window he monitored his little world from all day long.
My mom was amazing - came all the way up in rush hour traffic and sat with me for hours at the Vet's, followed me home to my house to clean up, then drove me to her house to stay the night. This morning she went and exercised with her friend Dee at 7:30 a.m., came home with Starbucks coffee for me, made me breakfast then drove me around all day to animal shelters to visit the puppies and kitties because that's what I really wanted to do.
Last thing I thought I would do was not come home alone today, but I am the anti-norm. So around 5 pm after visiting 2 shelters hoping my mom would meet a dog she liked so I could live vicariously through her, we went to the Helen Woodward Center - the same place I found Elwood 13 years ago. After saying hi to every kitty there, I went to see the dogs and there stood Percy. Percy is a grey and white bowl-legged Shih-Tzu who had been at Helen Woodward for just over a month. He is 5 years old - the same exact age as Darby (my niece) to the month, and is the single most mellow dog I've ever met - he just wants to lay on his back in your arms while you pet his tummy. He has yet to bark, pull on the leash or do anything destructive. He is asleep next to me right now snoring like someone I know. He loves the car and hopefully the airplane too. While I can't take him to work with me, I hope to take him with me on the plane when I'm non-reving as much as he's allowed by those I'm visiting. HINT HINT. So far, Percy has gotten me to spend more time outdoors in San Diego than I have the entire summer.
Elwood was the fur equivalent of the love of my life and every time I had to leave him behind to fly I missed him so much and felt horribly guilty. Now Elwood has left me behind and is up in fluffy heaven with Fatty, BK, and Pussy Willow taking up more space per square foot than the other three combined. He adored every one of my friends and family he met (a few in particular - you know who you are). Just wanted to say thanks for caring about my kitty.
Love,
Leslie
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