Li'l Red
A donation was made in memory of Li'l Red by Doctors and Staff of the not recorded on Apr 01, 2009.
Li'l Red arrived on our deck on Valentine's Day, 1999 and was "crying" very loudly! I went to investigate the problem and found nothing, but left a can of cat food on the driveway. After returning from a dinner out, the cat food was not eaten and there was no sign of kitty.
In the next week, we continued to put out canned cat food and it was (of course) eaten. We finally saw kitty and he was about 5 lbs. He was a beautiful little red cat. We instantly named him Li'l Red. We took him to a veterinarian and he was diagnosed with kitty AIDS along with many other ailments. We had to give him five different pills for a month. They told us he also was an old cat!! They thought about 10 years old.
I took Li'l Red down to the lake often and sat with him and sang HIS SONG, "My Li'l Red Guy - Your're such a good guy"! Very Simplistic - but he loved it!
The vet we saw at that time told us that Li'l Red couldn't live inside the house with our other four cats- so we made him an outside house. Well the "houses" evolved from a plastic storage bin with a hole carved out for a "door" and a blanket inside to a lawn chair with a bed on it, a heater under it, and an umbrella over it. We arrived home on a very rainy night and put a tarp over the whole deck (in the dark, and in the rain)! Then we fed him homemade lamb & rice - the real stuff - and he gained weight to 18 lbs!!!! He was a big boned cat so that weight looked good on him.
After talking to friends, we decided to have him re-diagnosed and it turned out that he did not have the kitty AIDS, and he could be in the house with the other cats. So we took him in and there was a period of adustment. The little guy was quite confused, but being a real fighter, he made it! So Li'l Red became a part of the indoor family of cats.
He was the most loveble cat ever - he groomed the other cats and even the dog! We knicknamed him "Unkie Red". He was staying large and healthy, but in 2006 he started to lose weight and was drinking a lot of water. We started putting him in jackets which he wore very well. We took him to Gary Haigh Veterinary and he put him on thyroid medication - two little pills a day. He improved and held his weight at around 14 lbs.
On July 13th 2008 we returned from a boat ride (a Sunday afternoon) and found Li'l Red quite confused. He couldn't walk a straight line - he walked in circles! We took him to Gary Haigh Monday - we thought he had possibly had a stroke. Dr. Haigh didn't think that happened, but wanted to try some medicine and a different diet. We tried different things - it was decided that he had a stroke. We fed him and hydrated him with an eyedropper and my husband even got up every hour in the middle of the night to feed him! He gradually improved and got better orientated.
He made it through August and most of September - Li'l Red was such a fighter we all wanted to keep him going. Dr. Haigh put him on steroids and he did quite well. Then it was decided that it was going to cause problems to keep him on them. When we stopped them that was the end. He stopped eating and drinking, and John tried the eye dropper feeding and drinking again, but no luck. We took him down to the lake one last time; on Monday, October 6th, we had Li'l Red put to sleep.
He had a very good life after finding our house and was probably 21 years old. He even "squaked" to the very end but his voice was much, much quieter. We give many thanks to Haigh Veterinary for the extremely good care they gave to Li'l Red! We had him cremated and have his ashes in a special urn with his picture painted on it.
I hope someday another Li'l Red will arrive at our door-step!
Nancy and John G.
In the next week, we continued to put out canned cat food and it was (of course) eaten. We finally saw kitty and he was about 5 lbs. He was a beautiful little red cat. We instantly named him Li'l Red. We took him to a veterinarian and he was diagnosed with kitty AIDS along with many other ailments. We had to give him five different pills for a month. They told us he also was an old cat!! They thought about 10 years old.
I took Li'l Red down to the lake often and sat with him and sang HIS SONG, "My Li'l Red Guy - Your're such a good guy"! Very Simplistic - but he loved it!
The vet we saw at that time told us that Li'l Red couldn't live inside the house with our other four cats- so we made him an outside house. Well the "houses" evolved from a plastic storage bin with a hole carved out for a "door" and a blanket inside to a lawn chair with a bed on it, a heater under it, and an umbrella over it. We arrived home on a very rainy night and put a tarp over the whole deck (in the dark, and in the rain)! Then we fed him homemade lamb & rice - the real stuff - and he gained weight to 18 lbs!!!! He was a big boned cat so that weight looked good on him.
After talking to friends, we decided to have him re-diagnosed and it turned out that he did not have the kitty AIDS, and he could be in the house with the other cats. So we took him in and there was a period of adustment. The little guy was quite confused, but being a real fighter, he made it! So Li'l Red became a part of the indoor family of cats.
He was the most loveble cat ever - he groomed the other cats and even the dog! We knicknamed him "Unkie Red". He was staying large and healthy, but in 2006 he started to lose weight and was drinking a lot of water. We started putting him in jackets which he wore very well. We took him to Gary Haigh Veterinary and he put him on thyroid medication - two little pills a day. He improved and held his weight at around 14 lbs.
On July 13th 2008 we returned from a boat ride (a Sunday afternoon) and found Li'l Red quite confused. He couldn't walk a straight line - he walked in circles! We took him to Gary Haigh Monday - we thought he had possibly had a stroke. Dr. Haigh didn't think that happened, but wanted to try some medicine and a different diet. We tried different things - it was decided that he had a stroke. We fed him and hydrated him with an eyedropper and my husband even got up every hour in the middle of the night to feed him! He gradually improved and got better orientated.
He made it through August and most of September - Li'l Red was such a fighter we all wanted to keep him going. Dr. Haigh put him on steroids and he did quite well. Then it was decided that it was going to cause problems to keep him on them. When we stopped them that was the end. He stopped eating and drinking, and John tried the eye dropper feeding and drinking again, but no luck. We took him down to the lake one last time; on Monday, October 6th, we had Li'l Red put to sleep.
He had a very good life after finding our house and was probably 21 years old. He even "squaked" to the very end but his voice was much, much quieter. We give many thanks to Haigh Veterinary for the extremely good care they gave to Li'l Red! We had him cremated and have his ashes in a special urn with his picture painted on it.
I hope someday another Li'l Red will arrive at our door-step!
Nancy and John G.
