How-I-Fed-My-Cats-Raw

When I returned late in the afternoon, he was not there to greet meas usual. I searched high and low and finally found him in a shallowdepression under the deck. He was almost motionless. I pulled himout and was horrified—there was not much life in him.My heart pounded as I took him inside and set him on a blanket. Hedidn’t go for water or food. I called the emergency veterinary hospitaland they said bring him in.The veterinarian examined him, said he had a fever and was severelydehydrated and about a day away from death if he did not get fluids.Now I was devastated!Intravenous fluids were given and I agreed to x-rays and an overnightstay for Greystoke. Soon after returning home, the vet called sayingthat Greystoke’s chest cavity was filled with pus. I told the vet aboutthe bump on his ribcage and he said that it was an abscess whichhad burst internally, filling Greystoke’s thoracic cavity with the pus.The next step would be to remove the pus with a hypodermic needle.The cost for that and everything else so far would be around $800. Iconsented and the procedure was done.I visited Greystock the next morning. The vet allowed me to feed him some raw meat. He ate and began to regain a littlestrength. I took him home and he quietly rested, and day by day became more animated.Over the next two weeks, Greystoke almost became his old energetic self. He seemed more peaceful. His wrestling buddy waspeaceful, and all seemed well.Then I noticed his vitality dipping bit by bit. He became more and more lethargic and it was sad to see. Then one afternoon Ifound him resting underneath a fir tree in the backyard, seemingly too enervated to frolic around like his old self. I knew thescore. The internal toxicosis was gaining ground again.I took him back to the vet, he was examined and I was told that the pus and fever had returned. My heart sank further. The vetexplained that his best efforts were unable to detect a toxic foreign object in his body, such as a broken tooth from a fight,which might be causing the “infection.” He explained that he could attempt exploratory surgery to look for a foreign intruder,but that would mean even more suffering for Greystoke. He said that most people would opt for euthanasia instead of thattorture.I am not sure how I made this decision, but euthanizing my best friend was the most painful one in my life. I said good-byeand cried buckets all the way home, and wept the next three days.The obvious biggest lesson there was no matter how well one feeds one’s pet and how healthy and vivacious he or she is, longevityis not a sure thing—life is fragile and every moment is precious. To honor the joy that Greystoke’s life gave me, I vowedto do much more to keep my future pets out of harm’s way. Fighting with other pets wouldn’t be tolerated any more. I stillmiss that boy and am saddened by his early departure.6