Ricochet was Emily's Christmas gift from Santa in 2001. We were leaving to go to Portland right after Christmas for a week, so Santa gave her a "Kitten Certificate". After we got back we picked up Ricochet from a friend who had a un-nuetered cat with about 5 kittens. He was a very affetionate cat always following you around, rubbing up against your legs, lickin your toes, typical cat stuff.
He developed severe constipation over the past 4 or 5 years, with really dry rock hard stools when he did go. It developed into what the vet called Mega-colon. Essentially his colon quit working. After a couple of years of taking him in to be 'cleaned out' every 8-12 months, forcing laxative down his throat 1-2 times a day and dealing with his constant vomiting and such, and him living pretty much 24x7 in our bathroom because we couldn't let him out or else he'd pee anywhere while trying to poop, Emily and I took him in for his final vet visit this morning. He was so dehydrated, a constant state for the past several years, they could not get a needle into a vein and had to inject the stuff directly into the heart. We had him sedated an asleep first. We didn't stay around to watch the final procedure has we had done for the other animals because it was too harsh (needle into the heart) for us to watch.
I'm hoping to remain catless for as long as possible.
