Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Immortalized in Pixels

It was with great shock and dismay that I learned today that Cara Mel did not survive her spaying procedure. Having grown up with spayed cats and known many people with spayed cats, I had never known of a single case in which there were complications, let alone a spaying operation that turned fatal. One of the reasons I chose not to adopt my foster cats was because I didn't want to watch them grow old and die. Now this.

Cara Mel is actually the second of my fosters to die. The first was in my first litter. There were originally six kittens, and one died shortly after I took them home. The kitten was apparently very sick when I got her. The shelter clinic was closed, so I could either take her to an emergency vet who would have little chance of saving her, or try to make her comfortable until the clinic opened or she died. Watching that kitten die was the saddest thing that I had ever done. Yes, I have been more depressed before, more miserable, but never from a single act.

Cara Mel and her kittens were my longest fosters. I took great pleasure from watching her interact with her kittens and the rest of the house. She was very inquisitive, she seemed to want to know everything that was going on, but she never stopped watching out for her kittens. She was a good mother and a good cat. Cara Mel will be missed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very sad :(

I've never heard of such serious complications in these kinds of simple spaying operations.

Heartbreaking to see these little fellas die.

On another note - I think it's very nice of you to take care of these cats! The world needs people people like you :)

Jac said...

I asked my vetrinarian uncle about the related risks. He said it probably only happens 1-2 times per 1000 surgeries. In super-common surgeries like spaying, anesthesia-related accidents are more likely to happen. At least she probably died painlessly in her sleep.

"I think it's very nice of you to take care of these cats!"

Thanks, but I do it at least as much for me as for them. I like having cats around, but it's not practical to have them fulltime with K's allergies.

John said...

Yeah, I can't remember Dad ever having a cat die during a spaying, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to that sort of thing growing up, so it might have happened.

Also, I second laffer's "very sad" comment