{"id":663,"date":"2015-10-14T23:22:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T17:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=663"},"modified":"2015-10-14T23:22:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T17:22:20","slug":"franks-last-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=663","title":{"rendered":"FRANK’S LAST STORY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I haven’t written a blahg in almost 4 months.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>\"ScottI haven’t wanted to write a blahg during that time. <\/span><\/strong>I certainly didn’t want to write this blahg.\u00a0 Read on, it’s a sad one.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have written here before about our found cat, “Frank”.\u00a0 If you haven’t read that post, you can check it out here:\u00a0 The Christmas Cat<\/a>.\u00a0 Quickly, the story tells of how Frank found us in 2008 just before Christmas.\u00a0 I say “found us” because he showed up at our house and stayed.\u00a0 Everyone loved Frank.\u00a0 During the time he was with us, we lost four of our older female cats and two kittens.\u00a0 I’ve written about the death of our other precious cats before so I don’t want to go into that again.\u00a0 If you search through the old blahgs, you can read all about it.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frank was always a great cat and very good-natured.\u00a0 \"FrankHe liked to spend time outdoors and never wandered too far that we didn’t have to worry about him.\u00a0 On those rare occassions when he didn’t answer our calls, I’d go out calling for him.\u00a0 I’d get frustrated and come back to the house only to find him sitting somewhere on the porch.\u00a0 I’d always say something like “you couldn’t call out to let me know you were here all the time?”\u00a0 It was his little joke to watch us scramble around needlessly.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes Frank would catch mice or birds and deposit them at the back door as a gift for his keep.\u00a0 One time he brought home a dead baby rabbit.\u00a0 I don’t know if he killed it or found it.\u00a0 I guess in his mind, he was trying to pay his way.\u00a0 We always discarded them appropriately so he wouldn’t bring them back again.\u00a0 He never ate any of his trophies.\u00a0 I guess it was like gift shopping for him.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frank loved to follow my wife around outside. If she was working in the garden or walking in the yard, he’d be right there. He enjoyed the outdoors and I had to blow a path clear from the snow around the garage in the Winter so he could go for a walkabout and do his business.\u00a0 The other seasons saw him outside from morning to evening.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>\"Frank<\/a><\/span><\/strong>He loved rolling around in the driveway and he had his favorite spots to just lie around.\u00a0 He liked lying under the solar blanket for our pool when it was rolled up.\u00a0 It hung on two hooks but it sagged in the middle and created a little tent area.\u00a0 You could only spot him if you were walking in the yard past the deck railing on the outside of where the solar blanket hung.\u00a0 If I went looking for him and forgot to check there, he’d be lying there waiting for me to discover he’d been there all the time.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When Frank was indoors he’d have his favorite spots in the living room or \"Frank's<\/a>on the bed in our bedroom.\u00a0 He never wanted to be in any of the children’s bedrooms but when my wife and I would go to bed each night, Frank would know it was time and would follow us into the bedroom and jump up on the bed.\u00a0 He also had his favorite spot on the couch and if you were there first, he’d jump up on you to signal that it was time for you to vacate his spot.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>\"Frank's<\/a><\/span><\/strong>He also had his spot on the carpet if he was inclined to lie on the floor.\u00a0 The other cats knew that and left him alone unless he was in playful mood.\u00a0 On those occasions he was very entertaining.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 About two or three years ago Frank became ill.\u00a0 At first we didn’t know what it was and thought it was best to just let it run its course.\u00a0 His fur was flat and he began to lose weight.\u00a0 He just lay around and after a couple of weeks he didn’t seem to improve.\u00a0 We took him to our veterinarian and they ran some tests and checked his blood.\u00a0 We waited for a diagnosis.\u00a0 We were told it could be feline leukemia or a number of other things that didn’t sound good.\u00a0 Eventually they found that he had a version of FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) which is a version of AIDS in cats.\u00a0 We were told it was treatable by an initial treatment of a special antibiotic and then a continuing regiment of steroids.\u00a0 Apparently steroids are safe in cats but not so much in humans.\u00a0 Frank quickly improved and remained on the dose of one steroid pill a day for the next three years.\u00a0 He only had one bout of a respiratory infection that was cleared up by an antibiotic but the FIV was kept at bay by the steroid.\u00a0 His health was good and his quality of life was even better.\u00a0 He enjoyed his old routines and even put on weight.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sadly, Frank became ill again in June of this year.\u00a0 He began to slow down and we thought it was more age related because he was around ten years old.\u00a0 After a month, we began to be concerned because he was not as active as before.\u00a0 After a trip to the veterinarian, he was put on an antibiotic to see if it was just some type of infection.\u00a0 He began to decline and he lost weight.\u00a0 A few trips to the veterinarian and different blood tests later, we were no closer to knowing what the problem was.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One day he was just unable to walk on his own.\u00a0 He would get up and immediately fall over.\u00a0 We had to help him to the cat litter box and help him to get to food and water.\u00a0 The veterinarian thought it might be feline diabetes but Frank didn’t have all of the symptoms of that disease.\u00a0 I researched his symptoms online and some websites recommended Methylcobalamin B12 tablets to help with his mobility.\u00a0 I visited a local health store and found a water soluble version and started Frank on those.\u00a0 After a couple of days, Frank was able to walk on his own.\u00a0 He was unsteady at first but began to have more mobility.\u00a0 He even enjoyed going outside again if only to lie in the sun.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The veterinarian was unable to completely diagnose Frank’s illness.\u00a0 Throughout July we struggled to find an answer .\u00a0 We did not treat him for diabetes but we did increase his steroid treatment.\u00a0 Unfortunately Frank continued to lose weight and did not eat much.\u00a0 He lay around indoors or outdoors with supervision.\u00a0 Eventually he lost his mobility again and we knew that his quality of life was suffering.\u00a0 We made the decision to have him put down.\u00a0 We had been hoping for a miracle but even the veterinarian confirmed that there was nothing more that could be done for Frank.\u00a0 We believe the FIV had come back with a vengeance and Frank’s symptoms resembled those I had heard of in humans during the fatal final stages of AIDS.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The day we had to have Frank put down was the saddest day of my life.\u00a0 Everyone in our house was crying but knew it was the right decision for Frank.\u00a0 We could not see him continue to suffer.\u00a0 My wife and daughter and I drove him to the veterinarian.\u00a0 My son stayed home but even he wept.\u00a0 My wife and daughter stayed in the car and I took Frank in to the vet’s office.\u00a0 They took me to a special room where I was able to take Frank out of the carrier and hold him and talk to him.\u00a0 I cried uncontrollably and told him how special he was and how much I loved him.\u00a0 I held him in my arms like a baby and I knew that he was like one of my children and that his was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.\u00a0 Even now, my eyes are welling up just writing about this.\u00a0 I can only hope that Frank is in a better place.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think I want to end this blahg now.\u00a0 I will only add that our other cat Zoey, who has been with us for two years, also loved Frank.\u00a0 She always played with Frank when he was in good health but left him alone when he became ill.\u00a0 After his death, she pined around the house and was very lonely.\u00a0 We had to eventually adopt a playmate for her.\u00a0 A new little black kitten who we named “Annie” joined our family at the end of August.\u00a0 I will write about her another day.\u00a0 She is not a replacement for Frank.\u00a0 There can be no replacement for Frank.\u00a0 We still love him and he will always be missed.<\/span><\/strong>
\n\"Our<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I haven’t written a blahg in almost 4 months.\u00a0 I haven’t wanted to write a blahg during that time. I certainly didn’t want to write this blahg.\u00a0 Read on, it’s a sad one. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have written here before about our found cat, “Frank”.\u00a0 If you haven’t read that post, you can check it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[97,4,99,98,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6401,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions\/6401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}