Our special '' Sammy ''

by Daniel
(England )

24th August 2014 , 12.25pm is a day and time I will never forget. This was the day and time we had to say goodbye to our beautiful, so special Sammy.

As I write this the pain is so raw and still so fresh. It was back in October 2013 when our heartache begin. It seemed to be a normal evening , we were in the kitchen, Sammy was on the table playing with my Dad , so playful and extremely affectionate as ever. Within minutes tho everything changed, Sammy suddenly tried to jump down from the table and with no warning both her back legs just went. All of a sudden she could not walk. Myself , my Mum and Dad just went into a state of panic and disbelief. Within minutes we called the emergency vet and rushed Sammy to vets within 15 minutes very late in the evening. Seeing Sammy in pain just absolute broke our hearts. Once at the vet , there initial conclusion was that she had suffered a blood clot. We were all just in shock. later the next day it was confirmed that she had indeed thrown a blood clot to her rear legs. Within a few days though she made some very good improvement. The vet advised we take her up to The Royal Veterinary College in London ( the leading specialist veterinary institutions in England as well in the world) for a referral to determine how the clot had happened. The vet said that very few people take there animals up there , sadly due to very expensive costs involved in seeing such a specialist institutions. We are by now means well of but no matter how we had to raise the money , we would in order that we see the very best to help our Sammy.

Having visited the Royal Veterinary College, the news was not good. We saw a senior cardiologist who advised that Sammy had a condition known as HCM, a common condition affecting her heart which would produce blood clots. even by know Sammy was recovering so well from her blood clot , the prognosis was not good. Her heart was poorly. The cardiologist advised that Sammy had another blood clot in her heart which could dislodge at any time. She advised it was very likely it would dislodge and sometime soon. The most heart breaking thing was there was not much we could really do to prevent it. Sammy was prescribed medication for the rest of her life. She would have to have drug called , clopidogrel everyday ( a anti clotting drug) as well as aspirin. The cardiologist was very honest with us regarding her life expectancy , she of course wanted to be proved wrong but with Sammy's condition it could only be a matter of months.

We went away absolutely devastated by this news. We were just constantly on edge with her , always fearful of another clot forming. At this time Sammy was doing so well, she was at home playing in the garden, almost fully recovered from her blood clot , which the specialist said was rear but she told us what we already knew and that our Sammy was a fighter!

3 weeks later, Sammy came rushing in from the garden and we knew something was wrong. She had suffered a another clot but this time to her front paw, which is very rare. We again straight away rushed to the vets , she again made a great recovery which included me and mum and dad massaging her affected paw day and night ( literally, I would get up at 2.30am and 5.30am to specially massage her paw to help her recovery) . Being the fighter she was , within a matter of weeks once again pulled through.

We kept in contact with Cardiologist at all times , she said that was truly special in order to get through one clot let alone two within a matter of weeks.

From the second clot , Sammy went from strength to strength, you would never have known she had a heart condition. Without fail she would have her medication , even though it was not always easy but we never ever missed a dose. I cancelled holidays and plenty of nights out etc to make sure I was there to give Sammy her meds. Making these sacrifices was very easy, Sammy is a massive part of our family and and I would do anything possible in order to help her and look after her simply because of how much we love her.

As the months went on Sammy continued defying the odds , always so happy and content. I would always have the thing of kissing her goodbye in the morning saying i loved her before going to work as well as in the evening before going to bed. I did this more so since we found out the news, I suppose because I was always worried about I might not see her again knowing her condition.

Friday 22nd August 2014, I had just given Sammy her meds when for no apparent reason she was sick. Then literally seconds after she tried jumping but she could not as she had thrown another clot to her legs. I felt like time had just stopped, I can't remember much accept from rushing her to the emergency vets within 15 minutes with tears streaming down my face .

Even though we knew this was going to happen at some point again we still just couldn't believe it. Back in October she thrown 2 clots with weeks and amazing pulled through both , 10 months on she had suffered her 3rd.

This time vet said this one was the worst. She said if she hadn't had the amazing track record of pulling through what she had been through then the only option was to say goodbye. But Sammy was a fighter, we never ever gave up on her and we were not about to now either. We visited Sammy in the vets on Saturday ( next day) on 2 separate occasions where the vet said she was not in pain but the outcome was not looking good. The vet called us Sunday morning saying she had gone down over night. As speaking to the vet I had tears running down my face, the vet said we had two options, rush her as an emergency back upto the royal veterinary college where they would see her but the vet said there was nothing more they could do.

We straight away agreed to rush her up there , again never ever giving up hope. In the hour journey it was clear to see that Sammy was slowing fading. Once we got her there they rushed her in and then 5 minutes later we met the consultant. There was just nothing more they could do. Her body temperature had gone dramatically , she had no pulses in both her back legs. She was now suffering. Me and mum with agreed with the heaviest heart possible that it was time to say goodbye.

We wanted one more wish for me and my mum to spend a few minutes alone with her together. My mum held her while we spoke to her , the majority of people have no idea how intelligent cats are, she looked at us with such warmth , she knew how much we love her and we could see the love she had for us in her eyes. She even tried to open her mouth and meow to us but she just didn't have the strength. It was time to say goodbye. My mum held her while the vet put her asleep , and while doing so we never stopped telling her how much we love her, even though she very much knew this.

Quite simply this was the hardest day of my young life ( I am 27) and saddest. Sammy wasn't just a cat like most people think cats just are, Sammy was AND will be always a massive part of our family. She was the only animal we ever had. We gave our heart and souls to her to make her better and we know for a fact we could not have loved her any more then we did since the first day we got her as a 6 week old kitten.

Life goes on sadly BUT a big part of us died that day as well. We carry on but things we never be the same. We all just feel so empty. Sadly most people don't understand or never experience the amazing bond to create with your animal, for those people I feel sorry for.

She gave us an amazing 10 years, for her to go on another 10 months after being diagnosed just showed how special she is.

We can never replace her, she lives on in our memory and most importantly in our hearts forever.....

We love you forever Sam.....

Mum, Dad, Daniel

X x x

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