"Your paw prints will be forever on my heart."

Ellie, 5 years old

We were happy to see that the trip to Idyllwild didn’t seem to affect Ellie.  She was out of her normal routine, but since she ate well and took her insulin well, we thought she would adjust to insulin and we would get her regulated, as we did her brother, Mr. Creme.  Except for her breathing problems, i.e., asthma and chronic congestion, there would be no reason why she might not eat and gain some weight.

One of my favorite pictures of Ellie taken in RV on our move back to CA in June 2004.  It's out of focus, but it captures her face very well

Ellie was always a feisty little cat.  She was the smallest kitten of the litter.  Jezibel had 9 babies that day, which I brought home from the hospital.  Jezibel had to stay at the hospital overnight.  I bottle fed the kittens that night and early the next morning before going to work.  Ellie had a determination and will to live.  She had a strong appetite.

Because Jezibel had so many kittens, seven, to nurse, we had to supplement formula as well.  We have pictures of Ellie nursing from the bottle and her ears wiggled.  That kitten was very strong and we knew she would make it.

When it came time to find homes for the kittens at 8 weeks old, we kept Ellie, along with her sister, Lexi and brother, Grady.  I reasoned that we had to keep Ellie because she was attached to Charlie, but I knew it was because I liked her spunkiness, strong will and courage.  She was so tiny, but she was fearless.

Checking out her birthday cake

Oh cool! Balloons!

I see 7 names on this cake!

Happy 5th Birthday, Miss Ellie and all the babies

Even as she got older and had the muscle atrophy in her back legs, she would go wherever she wanted to go.  Sometimes she looked like a jack-knifed truck going down the hallway, but away she went.  If her “space” was violated by another cat who she didn’t think should be there, she had no qualms chasing that cat and cornering it.  We rescued cats from Ellie’s wrath many times. 

When we were in Idyllwild, we decided to let Ellie outside on the deck with us, thinking she would just stay up there.  But, before we knew it she had gotten down and was underneath the deck.  She ran all the way over to the other side.  Charlie was able to reach under and get her.  If she had decided to go underneath the cabin, I don’t want to think of what horrors Charlie would have seen.  But, he said he would have gone under to get her if needed.  So even though she had the leg problem, she could move when she wanted to.

A couple of weeks after the Idyllwild trip, we planned to go up to Nevada for a weekend to see some of our family.  Our nephew lives there.  His Dad & Mom, my sister, were coming to visit him for a week.  He invited us and my brother and sister-in-law from Utah, to come up for a mini family reunion.

We were going up on Friday and coming home on Sunday.  We talked about bringing Ellie with us since she had only started the insulin 3 weeks before.  We were staying at a motel which allowed pets.  She had done fine at Idyllwild.  But, this was an 8 hour drive.  We were afraid it might be too much for her to be in the kennel that long. 

We decided to leave her at home and give our pet sitter explicit directions on the meds she needed.

Ellie was always very wary and shy when people came over.  At other times when we left her home with a sitter, the sitter would say that she never saw Ellie because she hid.  That was okay because she was not on meds then.  But, now, it was different.  Ellie had to be available to get her meds.  Our sitter was sure she could take care of Ellie and we felt good about it.

We went to Nevada and enjoyed the weekend with family.  When we got home Sunday afternoon, everyone seemed fine.  But, when it was time for dinner, Ellie didn’t eat much.  In fact, not enough to get her insulin.  We thought she would be back to normal later.

The next morning she would still not eat well.  I gave her the asthma meds and the other meds which helped her chest congestion.  She was definitely not the same little cat we had left on Friday morning.  She seemed more congested and was not walking as well as before.

The vet called and said that Ellie’s test from a few days ago showed her blood glucose was still high and she wanted to go from 2 units of insulin to 3 units/day.  I told the doctor that Ellie wasn’t eating and I couldn’t give insulin.  She suggested Cyproheptadine to stimulate appetite.  We picked the pills up and started Ellie on it.

Ellie seemed hungry, but we couldn’t get the congestion cleared up.  She couldn’t smell food.

I decided to try syringe feeding so at least she would get some food in her stomach.  Once it was in her mouth, she swallowed and seemed to want it.  I finally was able to give her a dose, 2 units, of insulin.  By now, we were really becoming concerned.  She had done so well just 3 weeks ago and now it didn’t look good at all.  Of course, I regretted not taking her to Nevada with us, even though there were reasons why we didn’t.  I’m always second guessing decisions made.

I syringe fed breakfast and dinner and if she ate enough, she got insulin.  But, it was not easy.

All week long we tried to get her to eat.  On Friday, we could see that she was getting weaker and weaker.  It was so hard to see her like that.  Her weight was down to 6 pounds.  She didn’t want to struggle anymore.  We knew it and we knew we had to make a decision to let her go.

We had an appointment to take her to the vet on Saturday.  When I went in to see her that morning she was lying on her blanket, weak, and her breathing was labored.  I didn’t try to feed her or give her any more meds for congestion or asthma.  I just wanted her to be comfortable.

We said goodbye to Miss Ellie a little while later.  She peacefully went to sleep at the vet clinic.  We cried and the doctor cried.  The doctor told us that if she was a cat and it was time for her to go, she’d want to belong to us.  She thanked us for loving Ellie enough to let her go. 

We did let her go, but it was very hard.  We feel at peace knowing that Ellie is now running with strong legs again and is breathing easily.  It’s been a long time since she could do that.  And she is with her brothers, Grady and Toby.  Rowdy, Calvin, Taz, Mo, and Chelsi are on the playground nearby.

We have so many pictures of her and memories of her.  She was that tiny black and white kitten who at 4 weeks old, was the first one of the 7 kittens to have the nerve to climb up a 4 foot fence to escape, jump down on the other side and run over to Charlie.  She had kept her eyes on him the whole time.  She was unafraid to run between the long legs of our dog Chelsi while Chelsi stood eating her food or drinking water.

We love you, we miss you,  and we’ll never forget you, Miss Ellie.  Like the others, you will always be in our hearts.

Lexi and Jezibel (left) Taz and Ellie on right

Ellie May Bell 3/22/00  - 08/03/13  (picture taken 8/3/13)

More later.....

My middle name is Devil,
Tazzy D _^..^_