Last night my roommate and I got home from a pottery place and saw our neighbor next door (we live in a townhouse complex) looking under his truck at a cat that seemed injured and was meowing non-stop. We were afraid to touch it at first because we weren't sure if it was going to be hostile or have rabies. We reached for it a couple times but it walk from one side of the truck to another, only it was wobbling horribly. It couldn't keep it's balance. We didn't know it at the time, but the cat was dehydrated and it's balance was affected, among other things. The neighbor pulled his truck forward enough so it was reachable and my roommate picked it up, fortunately it was very docile. Not that it could do much of dehydration. We tried giving it cat snacks to eat but it wouldn't eat any. The neighbor said it was in his garage for a day or two and despite him giving it food and water it didn't consume anything. My roommate held it for a few minutes until we decided to take it to an emergency vet clinic. During the drive the cat's meowing subsided due to being petted, it was comforting to know it was relaxed, if a little.

Upon arriving a nurse took us to a room with a table to put the cat on and gave us paper work to fill out. She left for a pretty long time while she was gone we continued our affection for the cat. The thing was so unbalanced it would rock from side to side when trying to get its hind legs up. When it wasn't trying to stand it was crawling to the edge of the table. If I wasn't supporting it, the cat would have slid right off and onto the floor. It probably wanted off since the table was a slippery surface for it. The nurse (finally) came back with a scale and thermometer. After weighing it, the nurse took its temperature. Rectally. We chuckled a little because the cat went from meowing to purring while the thermometer was in its butt, but the nurse explained that cats sometimes purr when they're agitated. She left and the doctor came in. Told us that the cat was extremely dehydrated and showed us by pulling the skin of its neck and pointing out that it didn't go down right away due to loss of elasticity. The most likely cause of the dehydration was some disease, liver damage (which we were all thinking) or I think kidney damage. He said things weren't good for the cat and that it's possible the cat would need to be put down. My roommate was agreeing with him. The doc gave us the option to leave it overnight so they could run tests, which we decided to do. He said they would call us around midnight to 2 am, or that I could call them around 1:30 am.

We get back home by 10 pm, my roommate goes to bed and I stay up to listen for my phone, or tried to. By the time 1 am hit I passed out on the couch and woke up an hour later, at 2 am. I give the place a call; sure enough, it's liver damage. Severe liver damage. They wanted to run another test and told me to come in at 7:30 (this morning). I get there and go to the same room. The doctor comes in with a sheet of paper with the test results. Man, they were not good. The problems this cat's liver had was something I don't think a human could survive. It was pretty bad. He asked me what I wanted to do. I could take it home, but it wouldn't live much longer, and it was suffering. The doctor pointed out that a family would most likely end everything. I made the decision to have the cat euthanized, and opted for cremation. I wondered if it was my place to have someone else's pet put to sleep, but honestly I think the owner(s) would have done the same thing in the end. The nurse came in with the rest of the bill from the night before (I was charged for another IV bag because of how dehydrated the cat was) and asked if I wanted to see him one last time. I said yes. It must have been sleeping because I could hear him meowing as he was being brought in. The nurse gave me a few minutes alone to spend with the cat. I did what I could to console and ease it's suffering. The nurse came back in and was ready to take the cat. She asked if I wanted to see it afterward. I said no. She picked the cat up off the table and went out through the door on the opposite side of the room. I walked out of the building and to my car.
It's not everyday you do something like this.

Stats on Lenny (named by roommate), the cat's condition:
-The cat was underweight. Had lost about 5 pounds according to the doc. You could easily feel it's spine sticking out. It was also fairly old
-Severe dehydration. The doctor said if a cat was around 10 to 12 percent dehydrated it would die. The cat was 12% dehydrated.
-On the results sheet was a test for TBIL, or TBLI or something. A normal range for this is between 0.1 and 0.8. The cat's level was 8.8. More than 11 times higher than normal levels.
-On another test, a normal range was between 100 and 600. The cat's number was 2400 in this area. More than 4 times the maximum safe level.
-It's liver was leaking toxins into the body. Apparently, yellow fluid was in it's system. It's much more visible in humans but it can still be seen in a cat.
-Judging from its benign behavior, Lenny most likely came from a decent home and was probably let outside often, as the cat had it's front claws available to fend off attacks from raccoons around here.







This picture is the last ever taken of this cat before cremation.

RIP, Lenny, and happy Valentine's Day.



Cliffs:
Neighbor finds dying, super-dehydrated cat under his truck. Roommate and I take it to vet, leave it there overnight to run tests. Come back in the morning, results show cat has severe liver problems, which led to the dehydration. We make the decision to have it put down.

From the picture, it looks like a perfectly normal cat.

I'm sorry that you had to face this choice, but I'm really thankful to see that you went out of your way to help another living creature. True heroism.

RIP Lenny.

I'm so sorry. :'(

At least Lenny isn't suffering anymore. Even though it was only for a few days, he was still a part of your family. It's always sad when you lose a loved one. I'll be remembering you in my prayers.

MY dog is suffering..
I wish my mom and dad made the desicion like you, put it to sleep, but they where going to do this, but because ANOTHER dog was suffering BADLY, his... He was crying to be with ly dad for at least 5 minutes, and because we put him to sleep, they didn't want to do 2 at the same time, so right now, she is still suffering, but i know she's going to die.. How could this possible happen?! :'(
Many dogs... Maybe if we didn't had 26 Dogs, soon 24, this wouldn't happen
Or 32, soon 30, animals.
One of our cat is never let outside but he could attack like Crazy, the cat that Attacks like crazy, i hate him, well, not really, but he is... >< ANNOYING
Oh well, at least he gets to life with love (Sometimes not because he's annoying), what all mathers, and he lifes in a good rate, i think, not sure because 25 dogs right now.. :o
But i know how this feels..

Sorry dude about your loose. We all lose something someday but oh well its life. I hope you are able to recover from such a loose. Feel well Soon. 

Surgiac : We weren't the ones who had it for a couple day, our neighbor next door did. We only saw it that night.

Ah. I'll still remember you. Even seeing something like this happen can be pretty sad.

I've got four cats in my house, and one of them had a previous owner. You don't think Lenny's previous owner neglected it? To ignore it when it disappeared or something?

That's so sad.. Poor Lenny. It's great that he was fairly old though, maybe he was able to live a good life before he had gotten injured. At least you helped him out.

I have five cats and three males two females. A female cat died while another killed my uncle. The uncle thought that  my cat ate his chicken. The killed with shotguns. Will never forgive my uncle for this thing done. I was so upset as I wanted to kill my uncle for this crime he did

asdren : I almost read that wrong. You had a missing word in your post that made it sound like your cat killed your uncle, when it was killed by him. And yeah, that's a pretty vicious thing to do. I'm not fond of cats, but I would never kill one over it stealing something. I always warn my S/O's cats that I'll grab them by the tail and throw them outside for biting me, hissing at me or being on the kitchen counters, but I never do, of course. That's a little mean.

Cyro Xero : Ok thanks and sorry for my English ( I am albanian and I am a little beginner in English)