Snoopy, 1991-2007

Often with a 16-year-old cat, it's just a matter of time. For Snoopy, his time came today.

The circumstances had an odd timing. Almost two weeks ago, I bought a new cat food for Snoopy. His appetite had been downright voracious, and so I thought I'd find him a cat food formulted for his special diet (he had an early history of urinary blockage). He ate some of the new food for the first few days, but he did get sick (and vomited) and never really liked the new food. It turns out that some of the cans I brought home would be part of the Menu Foods pet food recall.

We quickly reverted back to Snoopy's regular brand of cat food. But he never really seemed to get his old appetite back. On Wednesday night he was pretty sick and definitely not sick. I thought for sure he was suffering from kidney failure.

After a visit to the veterinarian and some blood tests, it was determined that there was no urinary blockage, no kidney failure, and no diabetes. However, the vet had felt around Snoopy's belly and thought it didn't feel right, and that perhaps one of the kidneys was quite small. Also, the white blood cell count was too high - indicative of cancer. Even with antibiotics, however, Snoopy's prognosis was not good. The vet said even though Snoopy couldn't really tell us, he probably felt like crap.

With our vet's full support and understanding, and given Snoopy's advanced age, S and I made the very difficult decision not to treat him, and to end the suffering which was only going to get worse anyway. And the cat food? Probably just a coincidence.

We already miss Snoopy very much.