Achy-breaky heart

Very early this morning I was awakened not once, but twice, by the lovely sound of my cat (Copper) vomiting. After about six or seven episodes in only 4 - 5 hours, I really started to get worried so I called the vet. They told me I could bring him in at 11:00, but I thought that was too long (it was ~9:30am at the time I called), so they told me to bring him in. When we arrived, they whisked him to the back to make sure he was stable and, long story short, it's a good thing I brought him in when I did. He started to crash well before 11:00, so much so that the vet brought me to the back...they were afraid he wasn't going to make it.

So, after many hours at the vet/animal hospital, we don't know much more than this: (1) Copper was dehydrated enough to cause concern; (2) he's lost 20% of his body weight in one month, which may be partially due to dehydration...difficult to know; (3) after blood work, his red blood cells are very low and he is anemic; (4) the vet (fabulous Dr. K) thinks that he's suffering from "anemia due to chronic disease" and he's guessing that the chronic disease is cancer, but he's not really sure. When I left the vet/animal hospital about 5+ hours later, I didn't leave with my little dude. Oh, he's still alive and stable now. They are giving him IV fluids to rehydrate him and want to observe him overnight. If they can get him stable enough within the next day so that I can bring him home and care for him until he passes (including subcutaneous hydration) I will be happy. But, if they are not able to get him in a place where I can take him home, I think I'll have to do what I dread. That's not a decision I want to make, but I just can't financially sustain keeping him in the hospital for a long period of time, especially if he is chronically ill.

Being that I lost my dear friend and companion, George, just 9 months ago to cancer (George was my other cat, btw), this news has hit me like a blow to the gut and my heart is absolutely broken. I don't know how I can handle losing both of my cats in less than one year. Copper is my only "child" now and it's killing me to even imagine that Copper may not make it through this week. I sit here in my house now, almost seeing Copper sit next to me, but I look over and he's not there and I cry. I feel like I can't STOP crying. Needless to say it's been an excruciating day, I'm hopeful that I may get a bit more time with my little Copper.

Through all this, I have to give some serious props to the Princeton Animal Hospital. They were wonderful today. They had one person assigned to Copper the entire time I was there, and she was great with him. They've always been great at respecting the choices of the "parents" no matter what that may be, including when I had to make the difficult decision to put George to his eternal sleep. I'm certainly hoping that I won't have to make that decision with Copper...not yet anyway.