Neko passed away this Tuesday on 11/15/11. She was only 5 years old.
Neko was incredibly special to me. She was my first cat and my best friend. I adopted her when she was 2 months old, a few months after my father passed away and I moved back to Chicago. I moved into a small apartment that looked over the lake and felt very lonely. When Neko came to live with me, she really brightened up my life. She woke me up every morning at 6am and we would sit near the window enjoying the view while I drank my coffee. That summer, I met my husband, Jeremy. When Jeremy and I moved in together, we were like a family and I always joked and said that she was our furry kitty child.
Actually, we were the only two people she seemed to like.
She always seemed pretty healthy, just a little on the small side. But in June '11, her health and weight dwindled. I was very concerned for her. I took her to the vet and they couldn't figure out what was wrong, but noted that she was anemic and that her red blood cell count was dangerously low. The doctors who saw her couldn't believe that she was still alive, one called her a "Miracle Kitty". They decided to give her a steroid shot to see if that would do anything. It did.
She went back to a normal weight, ate again, started to sleep with me again. Everything seemed fine for a few months until September-October, she started to slowly slip back to the way she was back in June. She went down to 4 pounds, hardly ate, and neglected her fur. I spent hours trying to groom her everyday. Then she started to make wheezing noises and her whole body moved as she tried to breath. I was extremely worried, and expected that they would suggest euthanasia.
I took her back to the vet and saw a different doctor who didn't seem worried as Neko writhed around from discomfort on the floor. She told me that it looked like there was a parasite attacking her red blood cells and that an antibiotic should take care of it. She said that I would see the results in just a few days, gave her a steroid shot, and sent us on our way.
Neko died the next day. I came home from work to give her her 2nd dose and my husband held her as I tried to get the liquid in her mouth. She fought so hard, we decided to give it a rest because we didn't want to hurt her. That's when she vomited on me. I set her down and she keeled over and started breath heavily. I didn't know what to do, I knew this was it, so I set her on a towel in the bathtub and went to clean up the mess in the kitchen. When I came back a few minutes later, she was gone. It was such a horrible experience, watching a being that I cared for die, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. She was my family, my baby.
I miss her so much.
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Neko was a very beautiful girl and was very loved. RIP sweet Neko.
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