by Crystal Cheryl Bell
Gizmo came to me last year when a friend died. My friend was a minister living in another state. Giz was already 15 years old. Members of my friend's congregation moved heaven and earth to get Giz on a plane to come and live with me. She was on thyroid medication and the combination of her human's death and the move to a new home caused her such stress and depression that her thyroid levels skyrocketed. She was put on 2 pills a day, and then the vet said she needed treatment because he couldn't get her thyroid under control. Although I hated to stress her further by sending her away for two weeks, I did send her to have the radioactive iodine treatment done. She went and came back depressed. It did help her thyroid though. She never did seem to quite overcome her depression. She never really played. She did like to come up on the bed with me and cuddle, however. She loved to scratch the throw rug. She loved to go out into the kitchen and eat the other cats' food. But mostly she stayed in my room, sleeping. A month or so ago she got a respiratory infection and diarrhea. The vet shook her head and prescribed some medication and subcutaneous fluids. She hated holding still for those fluids! The medication worked but two weeks later she was noticeably weaker, barely eating and drinking, not really grooming herself, had great difficulty jumping on the bed. She was clearly not getting better. I made the hard decision to have her euthanized. My heart feels broken. I love you, Gizzie!