RIP Twiggy

Today I'm posting a tribute to our lovely Twiggy, our 5th and last furbaby who we had to put to sleep on Thursday 31st August, 2 weeks short of her 16th birthday.

She was the smallest of the litter, hence she was named after Twiggy, the British supermodel of the 60's. 

Our tortoiseshell, along with 7 other kittens came into our lives on the 17th September 2007, when "Mommy" and "Baby" gave birth to 4 kittens each, just outside my son's bedroom window. 

The mothers weren't really our cats, they had pink collars, were well fed, but used to came around to our house just after we moved in. 

I would put little notes on their collars to find out who they belonged to, but nobody ever owned up to them. The house had been empty for a while, as the previous owner had died, so they couldn't have belonged to the old owner. 

They were friendly and whenever the patio door was open they would just wander indoors and sit on the sofas. Eventually they just moved in.

Just a couple of weeks before they gave birth I noticed both cats were pregnant as they were getting a bit fat around their tummy.

We adopted out all but 3 of the 8 babies through an organization called "Safe - Saving animals from euthanasia" - my son Michael wanted Fluffy, and the other two girls, the tortoishells Shelley and Twiggy sadly just didn't get adopted as they were the "ugliest" little kittens.  The mothers - Mommy and Baby sadly passed away in March 2014 and February 2015, Fluffy in March 2021 and Shelley in April 2022.

"Mommy" with all 8 kittens around her

Mommy & Baby nursing their 8 kittens - Twiggy was the dark one by the tail

Look at that cute face

         

Twiggy was a good friend to Fluffy (the ginger cat), but got on better with her look-alike Shelley.

Shelley (left) and Twiggy (right)

Shelley and twiggy cuddling up in winter

Playful moments:

She was very close to Mommy, who I think was her birth mother, and suffered a bit when she died in 2014.

In April this year I noticed she had a wound on her neck that she constantly licked. The vet prescribed an antibiotic, and when it persisted, prescribed a cream that helped it heal.

Then I noticed Twiggy wasn't eating much.... in fact she had lost weight. Over two months of vet visits she had lost 1kg which is a lot for a cat, although she had been slightly overweight.

2023

My computer buddy just days ago

April 2023

After blood tests, which didn't show much out of kilter, the vet suggested a scan.

Sadly on the 14th June she was diagnosed with lymphoma - with tumours in the lung, kidney and bowel, and I was told the prognosis was 1 to 3 months.

With the help of steroid tablets she started eating again, but became quite fussy with food. She would only eat raw mince meat or pet mince and cat treats instead of the normal kibble, but she managed to put on a little weight. 

She made it to 10 weeks eating well, then started to eat less again last week and the last 2 days she basically would only drink the water that I added to the mince when warming it up in the microwave. I knew it was time to let her go...

She spent her last afternoon enjoying the warm sunshine in the back yard, munched on catnip and sat next to me getting plenty of cuddles.

Jose and I took her to the vet for our last goodbye.

Twiggy wandered around the room, climbed onto the window ledge, looking outside... when the vet came in, she spoke to us about the process, then gave her an anaesthetic injection, but 10 or 15 minutes later Twiggy was still looking around, very much awake, even the vet thought she was a fighter and had never seen a cat take so long to feel the effects of the anaesthesia.

Eventually she lay down and was still, and the vet gave her the final injection. 

It is sad to let go of our fur-babies, and I will miss them always.

At the vet looking out the low window

My thanks to Drs Aimee and Louise at the Lynwood Veterinary Clinic for their care of our 5 cats during the last 16 years.