via email from Betty Lulu:
Pepper
(?1996 - 2012) was a stray whom I took in when I was in Texas. She was
a small-sized cat with a gentle temperament. In this picture, she was
in her thinner days. She was usually rounder in the face and rounder in
general.
We went
through a lot together. She traveled with me from Texas to the East
Coast. Within a month, she stopped eating and developed hepatic
lipidosis, where her liver cells started turning into fat cells.
Survival was fifty-fifty, the vet said. Pepper underwent surgery to
have a stomach tube inserted. I had to medicate her and feed her
through a stomach tube three times a
day. She recovered, but the inside end of the stomach tube was
defective and didn't pass through her system. She had to undergo
another surgery to have that piece of plastic removed. She recovered
after a month, and was back at 100% health. I called her my $2,000
cat. (I briefly thought about suing the manufacturer of the defective
stomach tube to recoup costs, but it wasn't worth it).
While
Pepper was recovering, I adopted another cat, Creamsicle, to keep her
company. His story will have to wait for another day.
Pepper died peacefully in the Midwest.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words of sympathy.
Lulu
My condolences on Pepper. She was a beauty.
ReplyDeleteToday I leave for a week with Betty Ariel in the National Parks. I'll try to take some photos with Bettys.
My beasts with be cared for by my charming neighbor Kaylee. Jack is limping from some unknown ailment of the foot acquired on his only great escape from the electric fence this week. It's just a sprain. But GOLLY did he have to do this right before we leave!
And our cat, who is still or ambiguous moniker (mew mew to the prof., Miep to me, O'Malley to Betty Megan and the neighbors call him/her Ginger) will keep him company.
I won't be able to check in, so whoever wins the Betty Contest. CONGRATULATIONS! All the entries look deserving. Blessings on all the Betty Ladies, Betty Mary
Pepper was a pretty girl for sure. I have an almost $2000 black lab so I understand. He was dumped at school, and I watched him get skinnier by the day. He wanted people to get close but was just too scared. Obviously abused. By the time someone caught him and handed him over to us, he was almost dead. Covered in ticks and suffering from ehrlichia. Broken, infected teeth. Starving. Not neutered. Both ears infected. Staph infection on stomach. Pitiful. Our vets pulled off a miracle, I think, and we now have a 104 lbs, smiling, happy boy. Just the sweetest dog ever. Worth every penny in my mind.
ReplyDeleteBetty would enjoy seeing our pets, I think.
BettyMary, looking forward to your park pics!
Betty AnoninTX
Bless your heart, Betty AnoninTX. That is a true rescue pet. The Jonkheer's favorite girl was a rescue, but well cared for at the shelter where her previous people brought her when their kid developed allergies. She is now 17 and beginning to fail. She came close to death last fall, and between emergency-room visits and exploratory surgery and more emergency care after the surgery left her badly damaged, she is a close-to-five-figures kitty! I don't believe one can truly prepare for the death of a loved pet or person, but I'm spending as much time as I can acting as a cat-lap. She really loves a warm lap.
DeleteBetty Lulu, your Pepper is a beauty! I love how her whiskers curve down, Fu Manchu style.
She did have long, pretty whiskers. I'm reading Only by Chance right now, and it said Betty has two cats in the little author blurb.
DeleteI have a cat who is 16 and aging rapidly (kidneys are bad), and we do as much cat-lap holding as we can too.
My dog had both of his right side canines broken off at gum level, and they had rotted down into his jaw. The vet said he had probably been kicked in the face so hard that his teeth broke. Just killed me to think about the pain he was in. Can't understand how people can do that. Now he has a lopsided grin! Poor cute baby.
Betty AnoninTX
So sad you have lost your four legged child. They do live on in our hearts.
ReplyDelete