When Leaves on the Current met him in a gas station in the southside of Virginia, they called him Midnight.
She renamed him Cielito he looked like the heavens at night, with a splash of white
He joined our household in May 2005, when we already had four rescued felines.
He was only 9. Last week he had some problems and we took him to the vet - he clearly had an infection, so they took blood for testing and gave him an antibiotic, and for a while he seemed to be perking up.
The bloodwork showed a very elevated white cell count, so our vet, who has cared for our pets for what will be 31 years come November, prescribed a stronger antibiotic, which we decided to do in pill form. Last night, no problem with the pill. This morning he tricked us, and spit it out when we thought he had swallowed. This evening we found him under a bed, not moving. I managed to get him out, but when I picked him up he was very upset, yowling, and scratched me severely. We managed to get the antibiotic into him, but then his breathing became very labored and rapid. After observing him for about ten minutes, we decided to take him to the 24 hour emergency vet clinic.
He did not make. He passed away as I was driving him there. They tried to revive him, but it was too late. They did some checking, and clearly he had developed fluid that was compressing his lungs, making it hard for him to breathe.
We are devastated, Leaves especially.
We have brought his body home so the other cats can sniff and know he has passed. That has now happened. Tomorrow she will take him to our regular vet for cremation.
This is the 2nd cat we have had to say goodbye in the past year or so. We are only a few months past the first anniversary of the death of Leaves' mother. And we have dealt with her illness, although she has done very well.
We will be mourning. We ask again for your prayers, especially I ask for Leaves, who is very broken up. We had hoped Cielito would be with us for another ten years.
We love him.
We miss him.
He never had a mean action - so when he severely scratched me tonight I knew there was something wrong.
He will always be a part of us.
Be at rest, and be at piece, beautiful Cielito.