Carly

30 Oct Carly

I had Carly in my life for only 4 weeks, and those were the most precious weeks of my life. She was so happy, so friendly, so playful, and so loving. I remember the first night I got her she made a nest behind the door to my lounge under a coat, and i laid there just outside all evening just being with her. After I went to bed, I was woken up at 5:30am to find her playing with my feet outside the covers. When she realised I was awake she scampered away and hid again. But the next morning after a bit of breakfast carefully taken from the corner of her nest, she came out to play and we were best of friends after that.

Every day I would wake up to find her curled up with me in bed. And we would purr and play together. I was getting quite good at purring with her! We practice a lot. Then we would play, especially with Morris the Mouse and she really loved her little woollen ball. I thought she might somehow have some Brazilian in her she was such a natural soccer player.

On Saturday 28th October 2023 she woke up happy. She had been to the vets earlier in the week and although she'd picked up an ear mite infection, I had some treatment and was advised she was in excellent health otherwise. She had been a tiny bit up and down all week – but the down still seemed happy, just a bit low energy and not as playful. But then later, or the next day, she would be bouncing around again. Her nose was wet, we purred together.

She was good all day and then she went from the sofa to my room on her own. I heard her crying and went after her. We stayed together and I picked her up onto the bed. She had a bit of an accident – which was unusual – so we went back to the lounge together to her litter tray. She didn't need to go again. I was worried so picked her up to cuddle on the sofa whilst I had a google search for the local emergency vets. I could hear her breathing wasn't great, which is when I was really worried. Within about 20-25 minutes from first noticing something wrong we were at the emergency vets and they took her in overnight. They ran some tests and thought she might have accidentally eaten something toxic, though we couldn't pin down exactly what that might have been.

On the morning of the 29th October 2023 I spoke to the vet for an update and was told she seemed a bit brighter but was showing some unusual neurological issues. But they suggested I could probably have her home later. At 9pm they phoned me to say that she had taken a major turn for the worse, and her heart rate and breathing were very bad, she couldn't stand, and she couldn't see. That was when they mentioned FIP to me as the most plausible candidate.

She was suffering a lot. I had to make a very difficult decision, which I'm sure anyone who ever reads this can understand. I was with her at the end and I had a few minutes of purring with her. She didn't purr back, but she could hear me even if she couldn't see me. It was so quick, then she was so peaceful.

I love you so much, Carly. Thank you for making me so happy in our short time together.