Close Call

I never really understood the saying about cats having 9 lives until our experience with "Cody" the other day. Cody is my baby, I have had him since I lived in an apartment right after college. To say the least he is getting "on up in his years" for a cat. He has always been a very LARGE cat. One time the vet even fussed at me about his size, telling me that "cats can have bad hearts too". Hey! I just figured, let him be a fat happy cat, when it is his time to go, it is his time to go. Two nights ago Zach and I both thought it was Cody's "time to go".

Zach and I were sitting in the Dining Room and Wednesday night when Cody walked in the room. He let out 2 loud weird cries. When we looked at him, he was breathing very fast, his tongue was out of his mouth and he was drooling. He was also very blue around his face and mouth. Granted, I don't have much experience with cats, but I have seen plenty of people in Respiratory Distress and I knew Cody was indeed "circling the drain"--okay, I will try and leave the crude medical humor out. If you are not in the medical field, you might not appreciate it. We love Cody and he is like a member of our family, but of course, it was night, and the only option was to take Cody to the Emergency Vet. I knew if we might not even make it there before he died and if he was that sick, there was probably little the vet could do for him anyway. Zach and I made the decision to just make him comfortable, and if he was still alive in the morning to take him to our local vet.

Cody's panting and difficulty breathing continued all evening. Zach picked him up and held him and talked to him. We kept thinking that these were his last moments and that he would just give up any moment. Finally it was time for bed, we took Cody to our room thinking we would let him sleep with us. (I was a little freaked out about possibly waking up with a dead cat on my bed, but I didn't want Cody to be alone...) We went to bed, fully expecting the cat to be dead in the morning. We even discussed plans about burying the cat, before the kids saw him. With recently getting rid of Max, and the emotional drama that followed, I was a little worried about how the kids were going to handle this.

I was awakened on Thursday morning with Cody, looking as spry as ever, crying and "bugging" me to get up and feed him. Zach and I could not believe it. The same cat that was ready to take his last breath last night, was now crying for us to come downstairs and feed him. His "blue" face was gone, he was running down the stairs, he was ready to eat. Boy! was he hungry! I guess having a "near death experience" makes one very hungry. I still have no idea what happened to Cody. How could he have been so sick and less than 12 hours later be perfectly fine??? All I can say is I understand why people say that Cats have nine lives. I am not sure what life Cody is on, but he definitely use ONE of them Wednesday night!!!