Fina-Lee Friday: All About Fanner

Not so long ago, a good day.
Many years ago.
Being held by Marty.
Sleeping soundly.

This is NOT a Friday I was finally glad to see. We, no, scratch that, I finally made the decision that not one of us wanted to make to have Fanner put to rest. I detest having to make such decisions. I would lay in bed at night and ask the Lord to take her so that I wouldn't have to make that decision. And the hard part was, she would seem 'OK' quite a bit, but I've watched her for months, years even, and knew she wasn't. She'd growl, huff when you'd pick her up, clearly painful. Her breathing was changing as was her litter using abilities. It was time, but it's still very painful.

She was so special. She was 'Nick's' kitty (even though he didn't take care of her), one he was supposed to grow up with for many more years. She was oh-so-soft, like rabbit fur, and a good lap kitty. But she had a lot of medical problems and the first time we almost lost her (and had the decision of her living or not) was when she was only 6 mos or so old. It took years to find out what was really wrong. At first we discovered she was allergic to fish. If you're a cat owner that feeds canned food, check the labels, fish-less food is not that easy to find. In Friskies, there's maybe 3 flavors that don't have fish in them. Fish in dry food didn't seem to bother her, maybe they use a different part of the fish.

But then she started having seizures too. And we almost lost her again when her first vet decided to give all of her necessary shots at one time, after that...no more vaccines for anything. We were referred to a new vet. She determined, even without the other uber-expensive testings recommended by ER vet when she was ~6 mos., that she had a condition known as liver shunts. More common in dogs than cats, but she was 'lucky' - hah! Actually, she was lucky: to have us to love and care for her for 7 3/4 yrs, and a vet who knew what to look for & how to treat her and keep her comfortable and who would work with us.

One time she escaped the house and a neighbor came over and asked if we knew anyone in the neighborhood who'd lost a cat with big feet (Fanner was polydactyl). She had opened her door & Fanner rushed in, likely thinking it was her own house as she'd never been out before. We didn't realize Fanner has scooted out our door when we answered it for a door-to-door salesperson after dark. Another time she escaped the back yard. I should mention here, that with her special needs, she also didn't have hind-quarter muscular strength and could barely jump up onto the bed let alone scale any 6' walls, and she had become 'blind' with maybe only being able to distinguish light and dark. This one time, a gate was slightly ajar and she got out. She was gone nearly 48 hours and Nick & I were especially fearful and heartbroken, we put flyers on light standards and people's doorsteps, took them to local vets in case she'd been hit by a car, and checked the pound, and we prayed for her return. Then one afternoon the phone rang, and the guy asked if we'd lost a cat saying he found one in his backyard by the pool just before he let his pit bull out (scary) - he had seen the flyer with our phone #. Turned out, he lived across the street, one house down. We knew each other minimally as neighbors here do, and incidentally, he's the one we acquired our new kitten Raven from at the end of November!

Fanner would sleep with either Nick or I. One time when she was with me I woke in the middle of the night and was scared witless. It seemed she wasn't breathing, she was limp like a dishcloth and for what seemed like an eternity, I nearly pounded on her to get her to wake up. She finally did, much to my relief, I truly thought she'd died then. This became a frequent event, and I learned not to panic. She just slept so soundly, that she was nearly comatose. We'd eventually laugh at how limp she'd be, but I'd always fear we'd accidentally break her neck or something. The one photo above is one of those times.

Fanner ~ we miss you! You will always be remembered.