We adopted Millie in May of 2006 when she was 11 years old. She was a bit of a challenge being so set in her ways! Crazy from the minute we met her. We went over to pick her up and Dave sat down in the middle of their kitchen. Millie immediately walked over to him and curled up in his lap. That was the end of it. Inseparable most of the time. All she wanted to do was spend time in Dave’s lap.
Millie started getting sick late December 2010. In January 2011 we noticed she had stopped eating. This started us on 2+ months of syringe feeding, blood tests, ultrasounds, xrays, and several trips down to Ocean State Veterinary Specialists. I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Benjamin Nolan. He was wonderful to work with!! We went through a lot of ups and downs, eating and not eating, medication after medication. Even though we weren’t able to get any conclusive test results, Dr. Nolan felt very strongly that we were dealing with lymphoma. We started her on Predisolone and it seemed to help for a few days. Then she started going down hill again. On March 10th, we had another ultrasound done. This showed fluid in her lungs that wasn’t there in the ultrasound a month before. Unusual. She had 100 ml of fluid drained that night and was a new cat by the time we got home. She started going down hill again less than a week later. She had been sneezing on and off. One eye was gunked up and one side of her nose was runny. On March 21st we took her to the vet again. Dr. Nolan could hear one lung functioning, but not the other. The eye/nose problems were on the same side as that lung. This meant the fluid had come back already and the cancer was spreading into her head. We could have had the fluid drained again, but we really felt it was a losing battle at that point. We made the very difficult decision to put her down that night. Even Dr. Nolan said he had never seen a case like hers where the cancer spread that fast.
Those were very difficult and emotional months, and we’re still dealing with the emptiness of not having her around here. She was only with us for five years, but she left such an impact on our lives. As difficult as things were, I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Rest in peace sweet Millie.
Millie through the years:
05/11/06: Day one or two at our house. This is how things were from the beginning – in Dave’s lap!
05/18/06: Life at our house was a bit of an adjustment for this former outdoor cat.
05/23/06: Moosey just wanted to play! Millie wanted nothing to do with that.
06/05/06: One of my favorite pictures of Millie. Funny how a simple yawn can look so EVIL!!
07/02/06: Helping with the flooring project.
07/02/06: The work required on the flooring project became a bit too much.
07/09/06: She had a major shoe fetish!
09/16/06: Ooh… grasshopper!
10/15/06: Nice and cozy in Dave’s lap!
11/19/06:
03/14/07: Waiting for the toy to go by again.
12/15/07: Back in her favorite place!
07/05/08:
08/24/08: “Don’t think I’m moving!!”
09/13/08: Out cold!
09/29/08: Buddies!
10/04/08: Rare shot – all four mutts on the bed!
10/26/08: Typical standoff
11/10/08: The rarest of pictures – two cats in one lap!!
11/18/08: Sexy black cat!!
11/22/08: Sun buddies!
01/06/09: The never ending fight with the computer over lap time! 🙂
05/19/09:
05/27/09:
06/28/09:
08/01/09: Another yawner!
09/06/09: Sun is a hot commodity around here!!
09/18/09:
09/28/09: “Whoa, I didn’t know we had one of these!”
10/14/09: Uh oh, dogs ate the food!!
01/22/10: I LOVE this picture!
01/26/10: If Stephen King didn’t freak you out before…
05/09/10: They were waiting for grass, but heard a noise behind them.
05/30/10: She stole my coupons!!!
06/20/10: Face plant!
08/26/10: Don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers.
08/28/10:
10/03/10: Official shopping inspector.
01/18/11: MINE!
01/19/11: Check out those claws!!!
01/24/11: I hate when that happens, don’t you?
03/02/11: New duck toy!!
03/11/11: What a great pic! Love that smile on Rebel’s face.
03/20/11: Poor Peyton. She knew something wasn’t right. She’s taking this the hardest of all of them.
