Goodbye Autumn

2012 began with the death of our cat Autumn. We will miss her. Perhaps my favorite memory of her was the times spent sharing the recliner with Autumn and my son while we all slept together. We did that often the past several months. Autumn rarely warmed up to people, including our parents, and typically hid from most humans. I enjoyed a close relationship with her and she often sat in my lap, and was happy at how she bonded with our son too.

Looking over her records, here are the key events in her life:

• Born 7/7/2002, somewhere in NY. She was put up for adoption at a group called Human Solutions who fostered her with several other kittens in Poughkeepsie.  The Asian family that kept her decided to call her "Baby" because she cried much more than the other kittens.
• In the fall of 2002 we met Autumn at the foster home and selected her because she was the most relaxed of the kittens available and also because she played with Lisa. We were not allowed to take her with us until she recovered from surgery to spay her.
• Spayed on 10/11/2002 by A Cat's Place Veterinary Hospital in Fishkill, NY.
• On the second night with us she caught a mouse. The cat enjoyed running outside and eating bugs and grasses. Lisa decided to call her Autumn because she was adopted in the fall season.
• In July of 2003 she was treated for eye infections. She seemed comfortable but was a little scary to look at for a couple of days.
• A week after our summer wedding in 2003, I drove from Fishkill to Durham with her, in what was worst driving experience in my lifetime. She was medicated by the vet to make her sleepy but she stayed awake and whined the entire drive as loudly as she possibly could. I was alone for this drive and remember pulling off the highway once to just walk away from her for a while to get a break from the noise.
• In 2004 we adopted another cat specifically to help keep Autumn company. The first 48 hours were intense enough to reconsider bringing the second cat into our home, but the cats decided to get along and spent a lot of time watching birds out of our windows together. They typically chased each other around at 11pm and often spent time in near proximity to one another.
• Starting in 2004 she began seeing Park Veterinary Hospital for routine vaccinations and teeth cleanings. They learned to trim her claws first because she was feisty and disliked treatment. From the summer of 2006 through 2007 we lived on the north side of town and she received one vaccination at North Paw Animal Hospital on November 15th of 2006. After we moved back to south Durham she continued to receive treatment at Park Veterinary Hospital again.
• Autumn largely ignored the arrival of our daughter and never warmed up to being chased around by her. The cat spent most time avoiding the baby.
• In August of 2007 Autumn became suddenly anemic, basically overnight. Park Vet tested her blood on the 22nd, diagnosed her with a  condition. Park Vet referred us to Veterinary Specialty Hospital in North Raleigh. She began intense medical care on the 23rd and we picked her up on the 26th with painkillers and subcutaneous fluids to inject into her for another week. The diagnosis was chronic kidney failure with little hope for a terrific lifespan. Park Vet told us she had months to live, thankfully she remained with us four and a half years after hearing that.
• In November of 2008 Park Vet extracted an infected tooth, which helped clear up bad breath!
• When our son arrived Autumn was older and in a larger home so she was less fearful of the new addition. As he grew she allowed him to pet her and surprisingly endured more tugs from his little hands than we ever expected.
• We returned from 2011 Christmas vacation to find Autumn with considerable weight loss. We first thought she was stressed from our prolonged absence and on the second day back she seemed a little more peppy. However when she did not eat I made her an appointment at Southpoint Animal Hospital for Friday. The vet assessed her situation and lab results as likely not something she would recover from - he thought she was a far older cat from her physical. Rather than deciding to put her to sleep that day we scheduled an appointment for the following Monday and they injected her with medicines to attempt to stimulate her appetite. She steadily continued to worsen, refused even spoon feeding, and lost the ability to walk. She passed away very quietly during the day on Sunday. Hopefully she did not suffer much and our decision to allow her to die in our home was the correct choice. We took her to Triangle Veterinary Referral Hospital because it was the only facility open on Sunday.