Yesterday. . .was not a good day. It was dramatically brought to our attention Friday night that Hexapuma was very ill, after having shown some improvement earlier in the week. Our vet was out of the office, so Saturday morning we made the hour-run down to Lewiston and the Animal Emergency Clinic.
The diagnosis was acute kidney failure — lots of red numbers on the blood count graph. The vet gave Hex a “very short time” which he defined in a few weeks of degrading kidney function. It wasn’t something that was going to get better; and there was nothing we could do to ease his last days. All that being so, Steve and I made the decision to let him go, and stayed to see him safely across the Bridge.
May I just say that, if it ever comes a time when such a decision needs to made on my behalf, I would wish for the same gentle care and empathy Hex received from Dr. Braeuer and his staff.
I was astonished to see that Hex had been with us for less than three years of his not-quite-five. It seems as if he’s been part of the Cat Farm forever.
…and so he shall be.