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Our Grand Old Dame - In Memoriam

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Eki. Twenty-one years old. Female.

In February 2011, she was diagnosed as having hyper-thyroidism. She had been losing weight, had a racing heartbeat, was constantly agitated and shouting for apparently no reason – when we brought her in to the vet's, she weighed-in at slightly above 3kg (6+ lbs). When this pic was taken in April 2012, she was reasonably stable, had gained some weight, was sleeping very well, and still enjoyed going out to the backyard and garden for fresh air and sunshine. The Traditional Chinese Medicine herbal remedies must have been working.

These few pics, taken in April 2012 with a mobile-phone, may be our last pics of her.
Our lady may be fighting her last fight.

The once-hefty 5.5kg (12 lbs) 'chunky-monkey' (our nickname for her) was a mere 2.3kg (5 lbs) when she was hospitalized on 24 May 2012. Her tyhroid problems and a sudden gastro-intestinal problem had taken their toil. Since her discharge, she had slowly gained some precious weight and now, in early September 2012, has stabilized at around 2.6kg (almost 6 lbs). Then, a couple of days ago, everything she ate for breakfast came out. Looks like the start of another downhill-slide.

We have started her on meds and continued the subcutaneous hydration ... if this regime doesn't help to pull her out of this crisis, we have decided to not hospitalise her again. The last one was extremely traumatic for her - they had to try three times before they could put an IV catheter into her - her old veins were so frail, they kept bursting. It was heartbreaking to see the once-so-proud lady suffer so. This time, we may have to let her go.

Update: 8 JUNE 2013

Yesterday morning, Eki died peacefully, at home.

We were worried as the weather had been very wet and stormy, and she made it very clear she wanted to die outdoors ... she refused to come indoors that last two days. We prayed hard for fine weather ... and the powers that be were kind ... the weather remained dry for that two days. Eki got to stay out in the open, spending those last hours in the garden and in the sheltered part of the yard. Today, the rains are back.

Died: 7 June 2013. Age: 21 years 7 months.
Image size
1944x2592px 952.13 KB
Make
Nokia
Model
E5-00
Shutter Speed
1/100 second
Aperture
F/2.4
Focal Length
3 mm
ISO Speed
100
Date Taken
Apr 1, 2012, 2:21:02 PM
© 2012 - 2024 pergamjee
Comments42
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suezn's avatar
I am so very sorry for the loss of Eki. I know how heartbreaking that is. What a wonderful, long life you gave her. In addition, you truly understood each other's souls.