The story of Dave the Cat.

I love my cats.  I got Dave as a stray.  He was hanging out around my parents' house.  He had no collar and we put signs up and asked around.  No one seemed to own him.  Finally I decided to give him a home in Pullman.  I decided to name him Dave.

He was AWESOME...  When he would lay on your lap he would snuggle his head between your arm and the side of your chest.  He would sleep there for hours.  He was an active cat.

Then one day he let out a terrible meow.  I knew something was wrong.  Dave had a loud voice, but this is unlike anything I had ever heard.  I went to the kitchen and he could not stand on his own.  He was leaning against the fridge.

I took him to a vet who referred me to the WSU vet clinic.  I took him in and his PVC level was half of what a cat should have.  The doctor said it looked like cherry kool-aid.  It was not good.  By the time I had got him there he was actually doing better and could walk again.  The vet said that he must have been that way for a long time because he was actually well adjusted to it.  She said most cats with that level would not be able to do anything.  Granted Dave was more into napping and relaxing, but he was doing okay for the most part.  He would still play.  The doctor put Dave on predizone.  It is a steroid.  He was on 10mg which is a lot for a cat his size.  It made a difference.

His PVC volume with up a little bit, and he got more active.  However, they were not sure what was causing the problem.  So I took him in for check ups every two weeks and kept giving him pred twice a day.  After a while he got so good at taking it I would just open his mouth and it was done.

Then I got a job in California.  He went to stay with my parents in Seattle.  While he was there he got really sick.  My parents took him to the animal hospital.  They did some stuff with him.  I talked to a nurse on the phone who said that he was doing bad and I might consider putting him to sleep.  My brother and his wife who are big huge cat lovers themselves.  They thought I should put him down too.  The doctor said he could not keep his head up and he was super weak.
The next day I got a call from the vet and she said that when she came in that morning Dave was standing up and have made a 180 degree turn for the better.  That was when I decided that as long as Dave wants to fight to be alive I will fight with him.  My brother talked to me on the phone about putting him down.  I was mad.  I told him that as long as Dave fought I would make sure he got medical attention.  He came home and things were good.

Some time later I moved back to Pullman and I was watching TV.  He was in my lap and it sounded like he had an upper respiratory infection.  When he was breathing it sounded like his nose was all stuffy.  So I took him in to fix that.  But it was worse than I thought.  They kept him over night and give him some meds.  When I went to get him from the vet I was given about 4 meds that he would take at different times of the day and some meds that would happen every couple of days.  I also have to give him some IV fluid to help with his hydration.

He was at home for about two days.  We were sitting on my couch watching TV.  At about eight PM he looked into my eyes.  I looked into his eyes.  I think that was him saying goodbye to me.  I didn't know it at the time.  I could see his pupils were huge.  I had to go for a while.  I sat him on the cusion that I was sitting on and left.  When I came home he had died.  I had home for about a year after I was told to put him down.  He was a fighter!  He wanted to live and I loved him with all my heart.