Our #1 Cat, Yukon (King of the North) went to the Rainbow Bridge on Friday night.

He had been losing weight and generally not looking well. When I got home from out of town last Sunday, he didn't even come downstairs to get his Cat Food. With Yukon that is a very bad sign, and I think I knew in my heart right then.

He was looking awful, eyes all sunken, listless, so we took him to the vet's and they immediately put him on fluids and got some nutrition into him, and did X-rays of his swollen gut. The X-rays weren't clear, so they had an ultrasound done and sent some of the fluid aspirated from his abdomen out for testing.

On Thursday the lab reported finding cells consistent with a carcinoma (cancer), and based on the ultrasound, the masses were blocking his stomach. That explained why he couldn't eat or drink anything at all. The vet offered to confirm the diagnosis surgically if that's what we wanted, but I didn't want Yukon's last day to be a medical nightmare.

So we brought him home.

With the infusion of fluids, he was feeling much better. We took him for a long car ride to sniff the spring air and look around at the world. He's always loved car rides! And he spent lots of time out in the sun, on the lawn, listening to birds. We gave him a good brushing and got all the itchy spots. He lay in the sun on the bed and rested. Polaris licked his ears.

But by Friday he couldn't walk anymore. We went for one last long car ride and then circled back to the vets'. The vet had left the catheter in place so there wouldn't be any needles at the end, either. They were going to take him from us to "prep" him (flush catheter etc) and I said, no, that he would not be out of sight of us at any time. I didn't want Yukon to think for one second that he was being abandoned at TED. My husband was very brave and held Yukon on his lap at the end, while I sat in front of him and blinked love at him and called his name.

It was better for him to leave life before the pain was too bad, before the fear started, before he didn't recognize us anymore and there were awful effects of the disease. We didn't put him through that torture. But we gave him the palliative care that we could. I wanted his death to be the exact and total opposite of all the cruel and unloved deaths which are suffered by cats all over the world. We can't take in every cat everywhere, but we were responsible for this cat, for Yukon, and we did everything we could to make his life the best possible. And he knew he was loved for every single moment, right to the end.

In Loving Memory of Yukon King
1992 - 2002

Copyright © Krista Clement
May 14, 2002