In June 2000 Gem needed to have surgery. He had a retained testicle, which
often go cancerous so needed to be removed, and very bad teeth.
For months I had been mentioning the condition of his mouth to vets. They always said, 'yes, but his other problems are more important'. Finally I found a vet who was willing to treat his mouth, and remove the retained testicle, neutering him at the same time.
I do not recall the exact date, but one day - around mid June - he went in for these treatments. It was a Wednesday, that I know. Gem had the surgery on the Thursday morning, he returned home the same afternoon. In my opinion, and others agree, he was let out much too early.
On the Friday evening Gem collapsed. He was laying on my bed, hadn't been to the toilet or eaten since the surgery, and started having abdominal spasms. I called the vet straight away and was told to bring him straight in - which I did.
The vet kept Gem in for the next six days with no progress. Eventually I was called in to see the vet, where I was told words to the effect of:, "You chose to take on a messed up cat, you deal with it." I brought Gem home.
After about a month of Gem not eating or playing, watching the weight drop off him, I returned to the vet. This time I saw a different vet, she ordered blood tests - which I had done straight away. Vet said it would be a few hours before I got the results... I waited. It was the same day as my son had his first introduction to his new school. Right before we left for school, I got the call. Gem was dying, his kidneys had given up. The vet said that I could try having him injected with anabolic steroids, she said that might help him. So, that evening I returned to the vet for the shot that I was told might help him.
If it was going to help it would've done so within a few hours. All it did was increase his appetite, that was never the problem. He was eating and eating but still losing weight. He lost a third of his body weight in a month even though he was eating more than any of the other cats.
Gem was in pain. He was not happy. He was definitely suffering a lot. I decided enough was enough. I could have kept him going for my own sake, but he was never going to be happy again..... no matter what I did, he would be in pain and suffering.
July 19th 2000. Gem was put to sleep. It should've been painless for him, but it wasn't.
Not for those who might be upset.
First the vet tried injecting into his front right leg. He screamed with pain, the vein collapsed.... blood everywhere.
The vet took out the needle and said, 'That usually happens when the animal is underweight'. But, instead of putting him to sleep another way, she tried it again in his front left leg. The same thing happened, but worse. By this time I had tears rolling down my face, Gem was screaming with pain and it hurt me that he was hurt... but I could not stop his pain. Eventually the vet decided to end his misery in a different way. She injected anaesthetic into his liver, I held him in my arms as he slowly died. Tears rolling down my face... he was buried next to Bonnie that same day - July 19th 2000.
