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I'm not sure this is the best place but needed to let out some emotion today. Last night, our 7 month old kitten suddenly died. He was a stray we took in off the streets at less than two months old after he nearly got hit by a bus outside my work. He looked every bit to be a Maine ****. He was hyper and silly and so so affectionate. He loved people and followed you around everywhere you went.

Yesterday he was completely himself. Last night, he suddenly let out a cry, collapsed, and was unresponsive. We tried everything we could, just in shock and my wife screaming. We did CPR and mouth to mouth. He was a limp body in our arms. After trying for several minutes it was obvious he was gone. His normal, healthy and hyper self one minute, then literally gone the next.

It was so traumatic, so shocking, so crushing. Such a loveable little guy with so much life in him, suddenly just gone. Maine Coons are prone to heart disease, but even so, to collapse at so young an age isn't typical. It happens, but isn't typical. But to be so sudden, it is difficult to find any other explanation besides something blood or heart related (cardiomyopathy, aneurysm, thrombus, etc.). The entire time from him acting normal to unresponsive was less than 30 seconds. He had all his checkups, all his tests, all his vaccines. We did everything we could to make sure he was healthy and ready for a big long happy life. I took him off the streets to give him a good life, and boy did he deserve one, and then he just gets taken. My wife and I are crushed.

Last year I lost a different cat, a dog in a cat's body, that I'd had for 13 years. That was like losing a best friend.

I have no point in this post. If anyone has had something similar happen, please feel free to share/ I'd like to hear of it. I've never heard of anyone losing a healthy young kitten like this. When they're super young, sure; when they're old cats, sure. But not when they're past infancy and doing so well at several months old. The unexpected/ rare nature of this is so shocking to us.

 

Or if people would like to make this a memoriam to lost pets in general, that's fine too.

Again, apologies for the rambling post. Just need to get this out and vent somewhere. It's been an awful 24 hours.

 

RIP Charlie

IMG_20211011_133641_2-min.thumb.jpg.66837528e0c97d67ba8e0ef1fe34bdf3.jpgIMG_20211011_112319-min.thumb.jpg.c6cfd30ed40b64fbb46c312cb198521f.jpgIMG_20220113_114513-min.thumb.jpg.ca270b56d389ffee3781048db05d662c.jpgIMG_20211115_154704-min.thumb.jpg.f99625435e0fa54c0010bf4f7bbf7ef3.jpgIMG_20211012_185603_2-min.thumb.jpg.544d3a8a95ee9d3c179f32c72faf3bb6.jpg

Not really the kind of pussy pics we are accustomed to from you, but I’m very sorry for your loss. To have it happen so suddenly is particularly heartbreaking.

Charlie looks like he was a great cat.  Sorry for your loss.

This is the reason I went so long without a dog after I had to put down my Shepard Duke not long after my first divorce.  I just got to the point where losing them was just too hard.  Hopefully Sebastian, my new one, will outlive me.

  • Author
22 hours ago, Hate said:

Not really the kind of pussy pics we are accustomed to from you, but I’m very sorry for your loss. To have it happen so suddenly is particularly heartbreaking.

 

6 hours ago, Not that Bob said:

Maine Coons are great cats. Sorry man. 

 

2 hours ago, dcbc said:

Charlie looks like he was a great cat.  Sorry for your loss.

 

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

This is the reason I went so long without a dog after I had to put down my Shepard Duke not long after my first divorce.  I just got to the point where losing them was just too hard.  Hopefully Sebastian, my new one, will outlive me.

I appreciate y'all. Wife is a doctor who's lost patients, done CPR to patients, etc.; she still said the 5 minutes of processing what was happening while trying to save Charlie was the most traumatic of her life. Just a rough day. Thank y'all for the words and encouragement. 

Sorry to hear about your loss
He certainly looks to have some Maine coon in him
I had a Maine Coon mix like yours that was a stray, he who passed a few back at the age of 16 from cardiomopathy, I first noticed he would occasional start weezing like asthma when hes around 8 or 9. After a few of those episodes we took him to the vet and hes was diagnosed with it.
They prescribed him multiple medicines to help slow down the process and it did but eventully his chest cavity started to retain so much fluid he was having difficulty breathing and I had to put him down.

Hardest thing Ive ever had to do



This is the reason I went so long without a dog after I had to put down my Shepard Duke not long after my first divorce.  I just got to the point where losing them was just too hard.  Hopefully Sebastian, my new one, will outlive me.
This where I am, I cant go through that type of loss again
  • Author
1 minute ago, Smax said:

Sorry to hear about your loss
He certainly looks to have some
I had a Maine Coon mix like yours that was a stray, he who passed a few back at the age of 16 from cardiomopathy, I first noticed he would occasional start weezing like asthma when hes around 8 or 9. After a few of those episodes we took him to the vet and hes was diagnosed with it.
They prescribed him multiple medicines to help slow down the process and it did but eventully his chest cavity started to retain so much fluid he was having difficulty breathing and I eventually had to put him down.

Hardest thing Ive ever had to do

Ya when I had to put down my old cat Jack last year it was truly the hardest day of my life. Harder than losing my grandparents or Dad or anything else. The overwhelming sense of responsibility just got to me. 

With Charlie, he occasionally had small "wheezing" spells, but only immediately after running around like a madman chasing laser pointers and whatnot. I always took it as just breathing hard from the exertion, but now I see perhaps it was something more. Just so unexpected for such a young and (outwardly) healthy kitten. 

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

This is the reason I went so long without a dog after I had to put down my Shepard Duke not long after my first divorce.  I just got to the point where losing them was just too hard.  Hopefully Sebastian, my new one, will outlive me.

This is how I am as well.  We put down our lab in early 2009.  I did not want a pet after that.  I finally caved we my son and wife conspired against me and we adopted a dog in 2017.  She's a good dog and I like her, but I've purposely not gotten attached like I did with our lab. 

57 minutes ago, LTbear said:

Ya when I had to put down my old cat Jack last year it was truly the hardest day of my life. Harder than losing my grandparents or Dad or anything else. The overwhelming sense of responsibility just got to me. 

I can't explain the why behind my feelings but I am the same way.  Found out my cat of 10 years had cancer last year.  He went from seemingly healthy to in the ground in 3 weeks.  The grief I felt was far more intense than I had ever expected.  Still get a bit choked up when thinking too long about him.  RIP Charlie, you were a good cat.

So sorry for your loss. RIP Charlie. 

I've got an 11yo Maine coon named Jack that I found abandoned as a kitten. I don't know how I will handle it when he passes. 

We took a little bitty one in about a year ago, off the street.  While I’m more of a dog person, she has added a ton of enjoyment to the family, and keeps my fat lab on her toes. I won’t admit it to the wife, but I love her like the rest.  Sorry for your loss @LTbear   

His time may have been short but you were lucky to find each other and you gave him the best life one could hope for. 
 

RIP Charlie. 

Charlie was beautiful! i love cats...had them my entire childhood. the last one i got in college when i was living in west campus by myself to keep me company. 

when i got married, she was part of the package and came with me, but my husband hates cats. like he's honestly scared of them or something lol. so when she died in 2004 at the ripe old age of 18 he said 'no more', we've only had dogs since. 

that's fine...he's significantly older and will most likely die first, and i am going to stop by the closest humane society on the way home from his funeral and get a cat 😄😊

but the suddeness just exacerbates the heartbreak and it's awful! we had a full-blooded 8 year old Catahoula, Pepper, who was just the biggest, loudest, sweetest personality of any dog ever, rowdy and rambunctious and not a mean bone in her entire body.

after a totally normal day/week/month, no injuries or incidents of any kind...she's in her bed and goes to get up and suddenly just starts screaming. we rush over and her back half is basically paralyzed, she couldn't stand or move her back legs. i mean nothing had happened to her, she was just in her bed! 

some sort of spinal stroke or something, honestly the vets were just guessing, couldn't find anything on xray...she didn't even respond to pain stimuli in her hind quarters. we waited 48 hours while they pumped her with steroids and the like with no change, but then made the call. i mean fuck, i know what you mean, you're just enjoying their presence and being with you and suddenly BOOM they are gone. it's the worst. 

anyways...just commiserating with you, your story brought up that memory. you did good, LTbear. 

8 minutes ago, mchookem said:

Charlie was beautiful! i love cats...had them my entire childhood. the last one i got in college when i was living in west campus by myself to keep me company. 

when i got married, she was part of the package and came with me, but my husband hates cats. like he's honestly scared of them or something lol. so when she died in 2004 at the ripe old age of 18 he said 'no more', we've only had dogs since. 

that's fine...he's significantly older and will most likely die first, and i am going to stop by the closest humane society on the way home from his funeral and get a cat 😄😊

but the suddeness just exacerbates the heartbreak and it's awful! we had a full-blooded 8 year old Catahoula, Pepper, who was just the biggest, loudest, sweetest personality of any dog ever, rowdy and rambunctious and not a mean bone in her entire body.

after a totally normal day/week/month, no injuries or incidents of any kind...she's in her bed and goes to get up and suddenly just starts screaming. we rush over and her back half is basically paralyzed, she couldn't stand or move her back legs. i mean nothing had happened to her, she was just in her bed! 

some sort of spinal stroke or something, honestly the vets were just guessing, couldn't find anything on xray...she didn't even respond to pain stimuli in her hind quarters. we waited 48 hours while they pumped her with steroids and the like with no change, but then made the call. i mean fuck, i know what you mean, you're just enjoying their presence and being with you and suddenly BOOM they are gone. it's the worst. 

anyways...just commiserating with you, your story brought up that memory. you did good, LTbear. 

Laughed about the cat part, not the doggo part.

RIP Charlie.  Fine boi.

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