17 Apr 2004
What a Week...

Starting with a server crash on Monday, my cousin coming into town (and our consequent flurry of spring cleaning activity), our last ewe finally popping Wednesday morning at 1 am, having a rush database redesign Wednesday afternoon (which had to be put into production Thursday) for my biggest customer and finishing up by losing a furry feline friend - which while not completely unexpected came in a manner that only forbodes some real sorrow. Basically, this week sucked.

Sadie was a cat we had rescued as a kitten in January of 2001 - she never became the big pet that Hagen is, but she was a good cat, if a little on the shy side. We were lucky to spot her once a week - we could never get her to hold still long enough for a picture. A purely indoor cat, I might add, as is Hagen, although he was an "in and out" cat when we lived in Minnesota, until he got injured.

Sadie came down with we we thought was a cold in January: stopped up nose, coughing, etc. Took her to the vet, got some antibiotics and she got better - for a while. The it came back, about a month ago. More antibiotics - no effect. She just got worse and worse. Then we remembered changing the cats food in December, to an "indoor" formula with some veggie matter in it. Wondering if it could be an allergy, we went back to Iams and voila, Sadie got much better, almost immediately.

We hadn't seen her since last Sunday, when she appeared OK, until yesterday. She had crashed, big time. Thin as a rail, diarrhea, the whole shot. Took her to the vet today and they ran a test: it was feline leukemia. Fatal, always. We had to put her down. She had apparently got it from her mother, as a kitten before we adopted her. We never ran a test, because, well, there was no reason. She was perfectly healthy until four months ago.

The real bummer here is Hagen: he's not had a FLV vaccine since 1999, which was the last year he was an outside cat. Which means he's probably got it, and is as doomed as poor Sadie was. We'll find out next Tuesday. I've got my fingers crossed.

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