*** latest update towards the bottom of this post...

In the spirit of 'the more loving thoughts the better', we could use your help. This amazing boy is very ill - very suddenly - and may not make it. I will post updates when I have them. Until then, please hold us in your thoughts.

UPDATE - Sunday morning, 10:15 am...
Thursday evening, very suddenly, Rocket (who is not yet 8 years old) was unable to use his hind legs and was in obvious distress and pain. I rushed him to pet emergency and was told that he had what was called a Saddle Thrombus. He was diagnosed with previously undetected heart disease. A blood clot was formed and thrown from his heart to the end of his aorta where the vessel separates to go down each hind leg. Blood flow is blocked and his hind legs were and still are paralyzed.

The prognosis was very bad and I made the difficult - but only - decision that he would be better off spending his last night alive with me, at home, instead of in a cage in the back of a vet's office. He was to be put to sleep first thing in the morning. The night was horrible, we camped on the living room floor and I did my best to comfort him through the night.

And here is the tiny ray of hope...he was a little more himself the next morning and after many phone calls the vet and I agreed that since he was doing better we could wait it out and see if he did in fact walk again. And the vigil began...the living room is where we still sleep, on the floor next to each other. He is all himself but for the back legs. I change out the towels he lays on. He eats food heartily and laps up the water that I put in front of him. I gently 'bicycle' his back legs to hopefully restore some blood flow (this part he definitely does NOT like - poor guy). But he smiles at me soon after, purrs and leans into me for a cuddle and gives me that little rush of renewed hope. He is experiencing far less pain than is expected in these cases but I am watching closely. Heart disease, another clot, is what I will lose him from eventually. But if he gets even some function back by the end of this week we may have another year together. If not - if the end of this week is the end - we will have had this very sweet time together and for that I will be forever grateful.

I have wonderful friends that have brought all of their love (and goodies) to Rocket and myself. Riley will be home Monday to be by our side. And I have all of your thoughts and healing coming our way. I can feel it and so can he. He purred for the very first time only fifteen minutes after I put this original post up. So please keep thinking about us and I will let you know what happens next.

***LATEST UPDATE - Tuesday afternoon, 1:19pm...
Hello all. We have just returned from our new Vet's office and we are all feeling a bit better. He is a Vet who combines holistic therapies (bach flower remedies, acupressure, etc) with the traditional (drugs, pain killers, etc) and although we are still in a waiting game to see if Rocket regains function of his back legs, his feet are warm and pink again. He is trying to walk and - most importantly - the Vet assured me today that he is NOT in pain right now - oh my. He also assured me that I have done everything right so far (imagine the relief). So now I have a very lovely, relatively happy, yet crippled kitty with heart disease. Hmm. Slow going now. If he does become functional again the decision will be how aggressively we treat his heart disease. Time for us to begin to get some semblance of normal life back now. I will of course let you know periodically how things are progressing but the vigil has softened into a watchful, attentive and quietly hopeful phase. I cannot begin to thank you for the love and support we have received from you all. I just know it has been a part in getting us this far.

Tremendous love and thanks,
Leslie