It is with very heavy hearts that we have to post about the loss of our two beautiful and sweet Maine Coon babies, Nicholas Samuel Adams on the right and Finnegan McAllister on the left.
They were both 17 years old, born 5 days apart and they died 4 days apart.
Nickie was born on May 5th, in Myrtle Beach, SC. The breeder we got him from was Paul, and he called Nickie, Tobey He cried when we drove away with baby Nickie. He told us to look him in the eye when we were talking to him, and he was right. Nickie loved to get in your lap and stare you in the eye. when you were talking to him.
He was the cutest kitty and was so laid back. Nothing bothered him. You could run the vacuum cleaner right up to him and he would just sit there. He loved people. He loved everyone, even kids that he didn't see very often.
Nickie was a Daddy's boy. He insisted on getting his lap, no matter what, and he wanted his FULL attention, even if he was driving the motorhome, typing on the computer or watching TV. It didn't matter. Nickie would sleep every night with his arm wrapped around David's RT arm, so that David couldn't move at night. All the kitties got brushing before bed and Nickie would take a few bites of his dinner and run to get in bed for his brushing and special time with his Daddy. It was Daddy's special time too. I don't know who enjoyed it more.
And Nickie loved his brother Bentley. He would wrap his arms around Bentley and sleep and he would follow Bentley everywhere.
Nickie never, ever gave us anything, but love. He was a big boy, which is typical of Maine Coons. When he was young, he and Finny loved to play together, but as they got older, they grew apart. Every night David would tell him how special he was. And he was,
Finnegan was born May 10th, 2006, just 5 days after Nickie. His breeder, Maggie lived in Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville. When I found out about him being available, I drove to her house after work to see him. He had 3 other siblings, and he was so precious.
Here he was at 4 weeks old.
Here he is in his Star Wars tent with his siblings.
Finny was so different from Nickie. He was always nervous. Everything scared him poor Finnigan. He would throw up when riding in the car, which we thought was car sickness, but later realized he was just nervous. Eventually, I got a Cat In The Bag which he loved. It made him feel safe and secure. He would ride in the car and look out the window as we rode along, and he never threw up again.
Little Finny was long and slim, with huge ears and paws. His coat was longer, and sleeker and silkier than Nickie's. They both needed regular brushings as they would mat, so you have to stay on top of that. Sometimes we would get Nickie a Lion's cut in the summer.
Finny always looked like a little fawn to me, sweet and delicate.
He was a beautiful boy. He loved to lay in my arms like a baby and knead my face and neck. At mealtimes, he got so excited, running to the kitchen, anxiously waiting for his food.
All the kitties loved to travel with us. This blog is filled with picture s of them on our travels. They were part of our lives for 17 years and we loved every minute of it.
Last month we noticed Nickie wasn't very interested in eating his treats or eating as much at mealtime. They were all scheduled for their annual checkup and rabies vaccines the next week, so we thought we'd have it checked out. Then I noticed Nickie was grinding his teeth when he ate. I called the vet thinking him might have a tooth that was bothering him and could we bring him in sooner? Our vet was booked, so we saw one of the other vets. She checked him over and tried to look in his mouth, but he wouldn't cooperate. She wanted to give him some gabapentin so she could get a better look and asked us to leave him there until she could have the gabapentin take affect & check him over. They would also draw his blood.
We left him there and she called in the afternoon and said his teeth looked good, but they did a chest x-ray and she saw a mass in his chest. It could be a lymphoma but she wanted him to see an internist at the ER hospital in downtown Chattanooga. This was Thursday, and that Dr would not be back until Monday. She had already sent him Nickie's x-ray and he agreed he thought Nickie had a mass which could be lymphoma or Adenoca. If it was lymphoma, it would be very responsive to chemo. Our vet gave him a steroid to see if he had any improvement afterwards and told us to keep him hydrated.
We needed to stop at Petsmart to see if we could get him some liquids that he could swallow. We couldn't leave him in the hot car, so we took him with us.
His was in Finny's Cat In The Bag. He was so heavy that I couldn't carry him all around the store, so I put him in the cart. He had a great time riding around in the car looking at all the food choices and all the little kitties up for adoption. He was interested in everything. He didn't appear to feel sick or bad.
When we got home, he laid on my chest with his arm wrapped around mine. The gabapentin was still wearing off and he was so sleepy. He slept like that for a long time. Sweet boy.
The weekend was horrible. As we went through each day Nickie could swallow less and less, until he could only swallow a pea sized amount of a gel type treat. The worse part was that he was starving. He would run to the kitchen looking for food, but as soon as he swallowed it, it came right back up.
On Monday morning we didn't wait for a call from the ER hospital, we headed right down there. It looked like a new facility and the people there were all very nice. The vet told us that they had looked at his x-ray and agreed there looked like a mass high up in his chest and after going over their plan of a CT, ultrasound & paying $3000 they took him in the back to get him ready for the tests.
This was the las time we saw Nickie. Later that afternoon the vet called us to say they had done the CT and the tumor in his chest wrapped all around his esophagus which explained why he couldn't swallow. They didn't know if it was a lymphoma or Adenoca and couldn't risk a needle biopsy because it was behind some major vessels. She said they could try him on chemo to see if he responded to it. Our vet had already given him some and it made no difference, so it probably wasn't a lymphoma since he had no response to it. In that case he would have to go to Georgia for radiation. I told the vet that he couldn't eat NOW, we couldn't wait to see if chemo kicked in. She said they could do a tube feeding through his side. We said, "NO". We couldn't do that to him. She wanted to know if we wanted them to wake him up so we could say goodbye. We said, "no", he would think we were there to bring him home. We had to let him go.
It was horrible, he was our baby, our sweet boy, that loved everybody. We were so sad and heartbroken.
Four days later, I got up to feed Bentley and Finny breakfast. Finny ate and then a few minutes threw everything up. He went out onto the screened in porch and I heard a thud and him screening. I ran out and he was on his side panting, unable to move his right leg. I called for David to get up, that something had happened to Finny. Finny never blinked, he just panted and screamed.
David came and picked him up and we jumped in the car headed to the closest ER vet. It was about 5:45 in the morning. We got halfway down the road and realized neither of us had our cell phones, David didn't have his glasses or wallet. We couldn't turn around and go back. When we got to the ER hospital (a different one from Nickie's), there were no customer cars in the parking lot, but the lights were on. There was a sign saying they were open 24/7. I dropped David and Finny at the door, but the door was locked. David pounded on the door and shook the door calling for help with Finny in his arms. No one answered the door. We had no choice but to get back in the car and drive to the other side of town to the same ER hospital where Nickie died.
As soon as I got out of the car with Finny, David left and went home to get our phones, his glasses and wallet while I took Finny inside. They got us in right away. The vet took him to the back and a few minutes and came back and said that there was nothing they could do and that he would probably pass on his own. They put me in another room and brought Finny to me. He was still breathing, but very shallow. He was drooling and I don't know if he knew I was there hugging and kissing him or not. I told him how much we loved him and what a great and special kitty he was. After a while he seemed to be choking on his saliva, and he started to have convulsions, so I called the vet, and we laid him down on the table. He was still breathing but just barely. I wanted to wait for David to get back, but I told them to go ahead and let him go. I didn't want him to suffer. David got there about 20 minutes after he passed & was able to kiss him goodbye. The ER hospital was so nice. They let Finny stay in the comfortable room with chairs, tables and soft lights with me until David arrived. One of the girls offered to stay with him white I left the room to go look for David, even though Finny had already passed. They were so nice there. Everyone that worked there signed a beautiful condolence card and sent it to us for each kitty.
This was the saddest day. We couldn't believe they were BOTH gone. For 17 years they brought so much joy and happiness to us. If we had seen it coming, or if had known they were sick, it would have helped a little. Poor Bentley had no idea what had happened to them. For weeks he wandered around and around the house looking for them in every room, every cabinet, behind every piece of furniture. At night he would cry out like he was in pain, as if he were calling for them to come out. In the daytime he would go around to the windows and sit and stare out, scanning the landscape for them. I think he thought they had gotten out and couldn't find their way home. He has been with them almost their whole lives.
Our 2 boys will never be forgotten. We think about them all the time and all the things we did together. They can never be replaced. They were the best kitties ever.
