 Heidi. About 1 May, 2006 - 3 May 2019
Today, we're honouring our little Heidi girl. She came to us in March, 2015 with her brother Sparky, who we had to release to Rainbow Bridge in the Fall of 2017.
Heidi was one of the first two sanctuary pets taken into Pets Niagara sanctuary on March 8, 2015. At that time, Heidi, was a 9-year old gentle-natured spayed female. Heidi's owner, although 89 years old, passed away very unexpectedly on February 15, 2015 having lovingly adopted Heidi from Mississauga Animal Services just 3 short years previously. Heidi's pet parent had been looking forward to spending a loving and happy life with Heidi. However, as a distant cousin she had asked many times in the past for us to please take her pets should she pass before they did. It took some time to organize the transfer but Heidi finally arrived here, in St. Catharines, on March 8, 2015. She was a wonderful little pet and had settled in with all of her pet cousins beautifully. Her time with us passed quickly. She was never any source of upset or concern and managed to accept the ever-growing population of sanctuary pets joining her. She was never jealous or aggressive and shared her food, toys, catnip and litter boxes with her housemates, graciously. She really was a joy to have with us. Her health had been excellent throughout.
During December, 2018 Heidi was booked in for a senior wellness exam. She was slowing down and at 12-1/2 years old she was likely having issues with arthritis. She had also developed a slight change in her breathing and I wanted to have that checked. At that time xrays and bloodwork confirmed what I had suspected. She had developed arthritis in her front elbows and her patellas (knee joints in the back legs). Her bloodwork was very good but she did have mild pancreatitis. What was worrying and completely unexpected was that she had a very large mass sitting next to her heart. It is impossible to determine from xrays if the mass was attached to her heart, was in her lung, was in her chest cavity or was pressing against her heart or lung. It was also not possible to determine if it was cancerous or benign. Her age and the location of the mass rule out any operation to biopsy or remove it.
So, on the recommendation of our veterinarian we returned back to the sanctuary armed with Cosequin to help the ease the arthritis, short-term pain medication (Metacam) and calorie-reduced wet and dry food to encourage some weight loss. Unfortunately, the reduced-calorie food had no effect even though it worked wonders for our Shadow.
All was going well with Heidi until late Thursday (February 28, 2019) night. She woke up and was attempting to reach her dinner but it was very difficult for her. She couldn't walk more than two steps without veering hard to her right and falling over. It appeared to me that she had experienced some sort of neurological event - a stroke, a seizure, or even perhaps a heart attack, or a thrombosis blocking an artery in her back. Her breathing was difficult. I also worried that that mass in her chest had shown it's character as a possible hemangiosarcoma - something I've had experience with in our golden lab and in one of our foundling cats. If it was this last possibility then I didn't expect her to live long enough to get her to medical help.
At the vet's office xrays were repeated with a few additional plates run as a new lump had come up on Heidi's right side. I also had her bloodwork re-run. She was in critical condition and at 12 years and 10 months old both her vet and I thought she would not come around. The xrays showed more growths. So, it would appear that she has some form of neuroplastic disease. We still don't know if cancerous or benign. But, given the fast development of new growths it was very possibly cancerous. Her bloodwork was still surprisingly good. The pancreatitis persists but she had no clinical symptoms of it. Apparently, some cats and dogs have this for many years without any issues developing from it. Her arthritis had worsened and now calcium deposits have developed on her patella joints behind the ligaments.
During the few hours at the vet's office her condition began to stabilize and I brought her back to the sanctuary late Friday afternoon with her condition as guarded. Over the weekend and after lots of love and pain medication she rallied very well and was almost the same active, lovable little Heidi. We didn't know for how long, given the rapid appearance of new growths, that she would be with us, but we loved her and kept her comfortable for as long as she showed us she was happy to be here with us.
On Friday, May 3rd, 2019, Heidi's health took a dramatic turn for the worst. She had rallied very well after the episode of ill health just two months previously in March and responded well to the new pain medication, showing its effectiveness to us by returning to her regular daily routine, enjoying the delight of catnip and laser-light games. Thursday, May 2nd, 2019, began as routinely as any other day for Heidi and continued so until shortly after 11 p.m. when I noticed that her breathing had suddenly become very deep and rapid. She had eaten a full dinner that evening and there was nothing to suggest that there would be anything out of the ordinary happening. I observed her closely and after an hour or so had passed her breathing became a little less deep and a little more relaxed. I didn't like what I was observing, though, so I stayed with her throughout the night, and kept her stretched out on my lap until she let me know that she wanted to stretch out in her spot on the sofa. I provided water to her throughout the night, which she took eagerly. By 6:30 a.m. on Friday she had become physically weak. As soon as her veterinarian's office opened I booked her in for an examination. I had brought her breakfast to her about 7:30 a.m. and she did eat a good portion of it over the next few hours.
Given the medical diagnosis of 3 tumors during her examination in March, I had the sense that this sudden change in condition was not going to be good news for Heidi. Even her veterinarian was taken aback when he saw Heidi in her then current situation. Sadly, the car ride to his office had resulted in just too much stress for Heidi and her breathing had become far more rapid and laboured than it had been during the night. After discussion with her veterinarian, he believed that Heidi's current condition was most likely attributable to an advancement of her tumors, particularly the tumor near her heart. Certainly, Heidi's health had deteriorated rapidly over 16 hours and her quality of life had come to the point of no expected improvement. For her sake, as she deserved nothing less than going as peacefully and as swiftly as possible, the painful decision to let Heidi go was made. Heidi left us late during the afternoon of May 3rd, 2019.
Heidi left this life peacefully and swiftly and didn't linger in pain and debility from her illness. Still, our hearts ache and the tears continue to flow on today, knowing that she will not be back with us for even one more day. Heidi's owner had had the foresight and love for her fur-baby to pre-arrange a burial and plot for her in the Peaceful Slopes area at Sandy Ridge Pet Cemetery at Eden, Ontario. I will be visiting there for her final interment in a little while. In the meantime, Heidi's cremated remains will be returned here.
Heidi never had a bad day while living at our sanctuary. She lived life to the fullest with plenty of love and affection, good food, warm bed, a ton of toys, frequent catnip treats and presents at Christmas and her birthday. She was such a very good little cat, with the sweetest soul I think I've ever met. Heidi was always calm and even tempered and purred as soon as she felt your touch. She wasn't a lap cat. But, she adored snuggling as close as she could get to anyone who sat down beside her. Heidi settled in very quickly when she arrived at our sanctuary, exploring every room and finding a choice spot to sleep right away. She was not a fan of loud noises and certainly any ringing bells, including the telephone, made her retreat to her hideaway quickly.
I am going to miss you so much, little Heidi, seeing that sweet face of yours that I still look for every morning and evening. You always demolished your meals and made us laugh with your cute little quirks. We will always remember twirling your patches of velvety soft curly fur and stroking your curly whiskers trying to get those to grow straight. You had the most expressive, loving eyes with which you would wink at me and other humans in your space. You even had the ability to mirror wink back if someone winked at you first. It makes me smile just thinking about this little talent that you shone on this world. Heidi loved to lay in the puddle of sunshine beaming into the rooms and really enjoyed it when the weather was good and she could spend long lazy afternoons in the 3-season porch, happily watching the birds, squirrels and even neighbourhood cats.
Thank you, Heidi, for the amazing 4 years that we had with you. Oh, how we wish it could have been longer. You had only just turned 13, so far as we know. We will remember you every day and will honour your life and memory in having your photo, paw and nose prints and fur clipping take pride of place in our Much-Loved Pets gallery.
We want to thank all of Wilson's Animal Hospital staff and Heidi's veterinarian for all the care that they provided to Heidi during her time with Pets Niagara.
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