It saddens me to report the death of Bingo, our family cat for the past twelve and a half years. Although he was already pretty old by cat standards, Bingo’s last illness came on very suddenly. Last Saturday, Eve noticed that his belly was strongly swollen. It was more so on Sunday. Instead of purring, he was cooing like a dove, which was odd. Monday, Eve called for a vet appointment. Since it did not seem to be an emergency, they gave her a Tuesday appointment. When they took his temperature, the nurse thought it was a mistake because it was only 95.5° The vet said it was cancer causing fluid to build up, which explained the swelling, and that Bingo’s temperature meant that his body was actively shutting down, and he might not last to the weekend. Quite a shock, since we had vaguely thought this might be worms or a bowel obstruction. The vet recommended euthanasia on the spot. Eve decided to have it done at home, so Rebecca would have a chance to say goodbye. Bingo had not seemed to be in pain before, but he spent Tuesday night squirming around on the floor, yowling piteously. The end of life vet arrived Wednesday morning. Eve and I had a chance to hold him one last time before she stopped his heart. We buried Bingo in the yard that afternoon.
