Goodbye Good Friend...

Baxter (cir.1991-Dec. 10, 2004)

When I brought Baxter home Thursday night he seemed much better, just exhausted. During the middle of the night his breathing became labored and shallow, so the next day I took him to the nearby university vet school clinic as an emergency. They did more ultrasounds and x-rays and said they would call me in the afternoon with some news. After lunch the phone rang at my office and they said he'd taken a turn for the worse and apparently had thrown a clot. I drove over to the hospital as quickly as I could and they explained he had severe heart and thyroid disease and his kidneys were beginning to shut down. He was barely breathing and his prognosis was dismal, so I had to make the decision to let him go. I gently pet his head and said goodbye while they administered the meds through his IV. I'll write more about Baxter later when it doesn't hurt so bad. He was really a unique cat and we feel fortunate that we found one another. I just wish we could have kept him a little longer. Goodbye, my friend, you had wings long before you made it to heaven.