More Importantly...

We made it back from our vacation safe and sound...with just a few bumps in the road. I'll get to those later. We arrived home last night (actually, it was this morning) at 2 AM. I've had a hectic morning and have yet to download the pictures to our computer.

The reason for the crazy morning is that our cat, Nellie (aka Boo Boo Kitty) is very sick. When we arrived home, Jordan (Nellie's brother) greeted us at the door, while Nellie just kind of sat there. It looked like she had an infection in her eye. When we picked her up, she said nothing - not even her usual meow. As I placed her back on the floor, her bottom just sank and she plopped down right where she had been standing.

I got up this morning and checked on her - I found her sprawled out in front of her food dish. I even tried giving her some of her soft cat food, but she only ate a little, and when she did, she wasn't able to support her back end.

We brought her to the emergency animal hospital, and I swear, I have never seen such wonderful and caring people. Right now she is hospitalized and the vet said she was "a very sick kitty." She is diabetic, which we found out about 2 years ago, and she receives insulin each day. Her body temperature was about 4 degrees cooler than it should be, and she is very dehydrated. Right now she is in "intensive care" at the animal hospital and is receiving IV fluids in an incubator to help hydrate her and bring up her body temperature. We spoke with the doctor about euthanasia as an option, but at this point Patrick and I would like to see how she handles the fluid treatment. We know that she is 15 years old, and with her diabetes, probably does not have much longer. They let us see her before we left, which I had mixed emotions about - I didn't want to see her in the incubator, but I also did not want her "thinking" that we abandoned her. People with pets will know exactly what I am talking about...

I know that we should not keep her alive just for our benefit - because it will be too hard for us to say goodbye. However, when we sat with the vet, I couldn't make that decision.

I just love my Boo...