The PetsitUSA Blog

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 07:17 AM PST

Tequila, Feb 14, 1998 - January 27, 2010

Tequila lost her battle with cancer on Saturday night, January 27, 2010. She was in my arms when she slipped away.

Tequila was in the process of being diagnosed with cancer. Her case was baffling to the veterinarians because none of what they saw pointed to any one type of cancer. It may have been lymphoma, small cell myeloma, multiple myeloma – they just weren’t sure. A month ago I took Tequila in for a routine exam & blood work. The blood work showed something was up, but she didn’t start showing signs of being sick until Thursday when she quit eating. Friday she spent the day with her veterinarian. Then Friday night I took her to the emergency clinic because she couldn’t breathe. I visited her a few times on Saturday and then late that evening when I went to see her, she died in my arms.

Tequila as a kitten

I talked with Tequila’s vet this morning (her regular vet, not the emergency clinic vet). Based on what she knows, and how things went at the emergency clinic, she’s thinking Tequila was being eaten up by cancer, and that there’s nothing we could have done. Even if we’d done more aggressive diagnostics (exploratory surgery) when all this started a month ago, she doesn’t think it would have helped. The cancer just had too much of a head start to do anything about it.

My heart aches beyond belief! Even though Tequila was a kitty, she had a huge presence. Without her there is a massive hole in my heart and a very empty feeling in my house. Archie, Lydia, and I are all grieving pretty deeply this morning.

This has been a very rough month with both Tequila’s and Lydia’s health problems (no word yet on the biopsy). It really touches my heart to see how many people I’ve met online through Facebook and other places who have wished us well and kept us in their prayers. And of course, my family and real life friends have been a huge support. Thank you to everyone. It has helped very much (and continues to help).

Godspeed my sweet Tequila kitty. I love you so very, very much but I know we’ll see each other again someday.

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