Goodbye, Mr. Mittens

Goodbye, Mr. Mittens.

I am heartbroken to have to write this post.

It's taken me about six weeks to come up with the words.

We very unexpectedly lost Mr Mittens at the end of May.

I thought I was ready to write this post.

Why am I still crying about a cat??

Because we loved him so much.

Many of you remember back in January when he had to have life saving surgery because he ate a Nerf bullet and it got lodged in his intestines.  We survived.  We barely survived that incedent so you can imagine our alarm when he started throwing up again on a Sunday night in May.  We said some family prayers that it was no big deal, but it was a big deal.  I asked our cat loving friends to pray for him.  We were all navigating the craziness of the last week of school plus a really sick cat at home.

Mr. Mittens got very sick very fast.  We consulted the vet, scheduled an appointment and he said he'd either eaten something again that was lodged in his intestines or that he had a tumor in his abdomen.  Either way he wasn't going to survive.  We were devastated.  

We went through our whole house and removed every single Nerf bullet and we have been very careful about putting any choking hazards away.  I do not know what he could have eaten.  We made the awful decision to have him put to sleep in the middle of the day on a Wednesday just three days after he got sick.  Kevin took him in and he passed away peacefully in his arms.

We sure do miss our favorite rascal.  He was BUSY and was always causing his own special chaos.  He climbed everything, landed himself in the washer, took a spin in the dryer, tight rope walked the garage door tracks and he always made his presence known.  Olive was his favorite.  I think I was a close second.  He loved us both a ton.

I know that we did everything we could do to make sure he had the best two years possible with our family.  He was wild and crazy and so handsome.  I adored his big personality and his polka-dot paw.  We all grieved in our own ways and have found ways to remember Mr. Mittens.  I'll share those another time.  Olive says he was one of a kind and no more tuxedo cats.  We'll see.

Here's a recap of some of my favorite pictues of him.

Love you LOTS, Mr. Mittens!

We Survived

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you are just happy to survive?

That was us this week.

We survived... barely.  And we are thrilled for a three day weekend.

It all started last Saturday when Mr. Mittens started throwing up.  That's not his normal behavior so I kept an eye on him for several days and it didn't stop.  We felt so bad for him.  I called first thing Monday morning to get him an appointment ASAP.  The vet could see him right away based on his symptoms.  I'm so thankful we found a great vet that we love last year.  I dropped the kids off at home after school and then took him to the vet.  He wasn't thrilled about it.

They did an exam and xrays.  He had a fever and xrays didn't show anything concerning.  All signs pointed to an irritated stomach and stomach/flu like symptoms.  They gave him a hydration shot, an anti nausea shot and special food to calm his belly.  I had to call in the next day to let them know how he was doing.

Tuesday, still sick.  Not showing any signs of improving.  Getting worse really because he was withdrawing more.  Back to the vet.  About the same temp, he was dehydrated and still not eating/drinking or moving much.  They did bloodwork and it all came back fine.  More hydration shots, anti nausea shots and call with an update in the morning.

Everyone loved him at the vet's office.  He was curious and sweet, but I just knew something was going on with him.  It was so stressful to not know what was wrong.

Leo's version of our week: 

Sick kitty at the vet all week long.

We talked about our options of an overnight stay to IV hydrate him and more xrays, but decided he'd be most comfortable at home and that more xrays might not really be that helpful.  He was not a fan of the big dogs.  He did love all the ladies loving on him in the office.

Wednesday morning: Worse.  Not moving, lethargic, no eating or drinking and still throwing up despite having strong meds in his system.  Bring him back in ASAP to be seen.  I was at work so Kevin took him in and dropped him off before he went to work.

Lots of phone calls back and forth with the vet.  

She asked to do an ultrasound instead of an xray this time because it would be more accurate.  I guess cats are challenging to xray and his first xray wasn't very helpful.  I agreed.  They found what appeared to be a foreign body stuck in his intestines.  No clue what it was at that point.  But they were pretty sure something was lodged in his intestines.

Our options: Surgery immediately or end of life care plan to put him to sleep.  I cried.  

I wasn't expecting those to be our options.  She said he could not survive this obstruction in his intestines.  We had to do something.  We talked through all the details, I talked to Kevin and we came up with a plan.  Mr. Mittens is YOUNG (not even 2) and overall really HEALTHY.  We had no clue on Monday that we'd be dealing with these options on Wednesday.  I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to him.  None of us were.  We'd just gotten him a new brother in the Fall and they have become the cutest friends.  It wasn't time to say goodbye.  So we settled on a plan and his surgery was scheduled for that afternoon.

School was crazy.  I was teaching and had a surprise observation that went great and managing all the vet phone calls in between.  No wonder this felt like the longest week ever.

I called for an update around 1:00pm.  They let me know that he did great!  Surgery was very straight forward and that they did find something in his intestines.  An earbud!?!  We don't really even use ear buds so I was shocked. They said he was up and moving and already seemed so happy.  I cried again.  He was instantly feeling better.  We made the right decision.  They said to pick him up after 4:00pm.

I dropped the kids off at home and zoomed to get him.  

This is where it gets a little funny.  The tech tells me she can tell Mr. Mittens has a big personality.  She says he pulled out his IV before surgery, pulled out 3 staples before they could get his cone on him, wiggled out of his cone like Houdini and so he'd be coming home in a surgery suit to protect his incision and 10 staples.  She said it was nearly impossible for him to remove.  She showed me the foreign object - which I immediately recognized as the orange tip of a Nerf gun bullet.  That little stinker!  We have these all over the house and I never ever thought about the cats eating one.  We are doing a whole house Nerf clean up this weekend.  Those will be outside toys from now on.  And then she gave me special food and a list of restrictions.  We got checked out and headed home.

Mr. Mittens was groggy and glassy eyed, but happy to be home.  We were all so happy to see him.  He started purring and laid on my lap.  He was not a fan of his surgery suit and he seemed annoyed about his new haircut.  We keep laughing at his furry boots.

We have since learned that surgery suits are not impossible for cats to remove.

The special diet is very tasty.

Restrictions of keeping him in a bathroom to prevent him from jumping are tolerable, but not ideal.

Pumpkin really missed his brother.

We head back in a week or so to get his staples out.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation with a pet??  Swallowing something they shouldn't have?  We have had cats for 15+ years and never had anything like this happen.

We survived.  

We took good care of Mr. Mittens and we are all ready for a quiet rest of the month.  Or maybe a quiet rest of the year.  

Hope you have a great weekend!  See you back here next week :)

Linking up with Momfessionals

Mr. Mittens Down One Life

You know how they say that cats have 9 lives?  Meaning that they can survive a lot of stuff.

Well Mr. Mittens is proving that to be true as our most curious, naughtiest, busiest kitten yet.

I read that about tuxedo cats.  The article warned that they are extra curious, extra friendly and extra overall and we are finding that to be true.

Last week I posted a picture of a soaked Mr. Mittens and today I'm here to tell you the story.  It left me in tears and he only seemed to be annoyed that he required a bath afterwards.

I was home with a sick Leo and Fletcher one day last week.  I was trying to get caught up on all the things and it was my chance to get some laundry done.  I filled the washer with a load of blankets and towels.  I put in one pile then reached to grab the second pile.  Never leaving the washing machine.  I added the soap and hit start.

I moved on to get busy fixing breakfast and doing dishes.  Several minutes later when I was sitting down to eat my own breakfast I hear Mr. Mittens crying.  I looked in the usual spots to see if he'd gotten locked in the garage, our walk in pantry, the half bath (all spots he's gotten locked in before) and I could not find him.

Imagine my horror when I realized his meows were coming from the laundry room.  Specifically FROM THE WASHER.  Mr. Mittens was locked inside the washing machine and it was on!!

I stopped the cycle as fast as I could, opened the door and found a soaked Mr. Mittens standing up inside.  His head was perfectly dry and his body was completely soaked.  I grabbed him and gave him a quick once over.  He was fine.  Thank, God.  I cried and hugged him tight.

So here I was holding a drenched cat trying to figure out how in the world this could have happened??  I honestly still have no idea how he got into the washer.  He was not in the blankets or towels so he must have jumped in as I was loading and got covered with laundry.  Then he sat quietly inside as it filled up with water, rinsed the clothes and cried for help.  When I opened the washer door, there wasn't any water inside.  Just wet clothes and a wet Mr. Mittens.

I called Fletcher over to help.  He grabbed towels and quickly realized Mr. Mittens would need a bath.  He had detergent spots all over him.  I gave him a sink bath, scrubbed his soapy self and then helped dry him off.  He got the full spa treatment.  He was mostly just annoyed that he was wet and kept giving me a hairy eyeball (dirty look) for the rest of the day.

I'm so thankful I was home, that I stayed close to the laundry room to hear his cries and that he was so smart to figure out how to keep his head above water.  You guys.  This story could have had a very, very tragic ending so easily.  I'm so thankful God protected him once again.  This is by far his scariest near death encouter yet.  And now I thoroughly check every single load in the washer and dryer.

Adventures of Mr. Mittens:

He's a flight risk and can regularly be found running circles around our property.

He snuck into our dryer once when I was doing laundry.  I fluffed him long enough to hear three loud clunks in the dryer and I opened the door to save him.

He scaled our Christmas trees like he was used to climbing trees on the daily.

He spent the night locked in our walk in pantry.  Somehow he'd gotten locked inside.

He jumps onto my plant table like a jungle cat, digs around in my plants and knocks over potted plants.

He is our only cat to have a full set of claws and we found him climbing our family room curtains like that was the exact thing they were made for.

And now washer gate.

He's the cutest, sweetest cat, but this guy keeps us on our toes.

When he see this handsome guy on my feed, pray for him because he is one busy guy!

Happy 1st Halloween

Happy 1st Halloween, Mr. Mittens!

You're the sweetest guy and we've loved adding in some black cat decor to our Halloween stash.

Olive's vision of a Mr. Mittens pumpkin came true and he loved it.  

Handsome, tuxedo kitty.

However, he did not appreciate her grand plan of being put inside a pumpkin. Noted, Mr. Mittens.

Happy Halloween!  

I hope you have a fun day with your favorite people.  My crew can't wait to trick or treat tonight.