Skittles

2005 - 2016

I adopted Skittles from a farm just outside Manotick on Friday, June 10, 2005. He lived with me in 3 different apartments in Ottawa then moved out to North Gower when I first moved in with my (now) husband. Housecat with outdoor access in good weather. Skittles was always under-foot, my little shadow. He didn't always want to be picked up or even a ton of pets, as long as he was nearby or sitting beside you. He used to really purr, knead and drool but stopped purring a few years ago for some reason. In December 2015, he was diagnosed with mild (stage 2) kidney failure and we were told that having dental work would prolong his life. By August 2016, we decided to have the dental work done and discovered that he had lost 3 lbs (he had previously been around 16 lbs) and we assumed it was related to his kidneys. After the dental work was done he continued to lose weight even though he was playing and cuddling with the other cats and following me outside and sitting on plants in the garden while I was harvesting veggies. We got home from a friend's birthday around 1am on Saturday, October 1st and he seemed normal. By 2-2:30am my husband was woken up by crashing noises around the house and by 3am we realized that Skittles had gone blind. We assumed he maybe had a stroke. Took him to emergency right away and he was given fluids and blood work was done again. He was still level 2 kidney failure but his numbers had dropped which didn't make sense because of his symptoms. He also had very high blood pressure so we gave him meds to lower it. We took him home and he had a few hours where he perked up. By late that evening he was lethargic and laying in my arms, he couldn't walk. We decided to take him to be euthanized the next morning if there was no improvement. Early that morning, he seemed to be in distress, couldn't stand up but was still consious. We lost control of his bladder and we knew for sure it was time. We headed out to the closest vet clinic that was open. I held him in my arms and withing 5-10 minutes, he had a seizure and passed away. The vet verified this at the clinic once we arrived. RIP Skittles. My special baby cat. You were special to so many people. You will never be forgotten.