Saying goodbye to our sweet Chloe

Remember when blogs used to be much more personal, and less about the perfect images and pins? This is one of those old-school posts all about my cat. She was introduced in 2008 on the blog, so this is only fitting for Chloe.

This year has been all about loss, it seems. Saying goodbye is never easy and at the end of August, we had to say goodbye to our sweet Chloe. She was about 15 years old (the vet thought she was about that age) and over the past few months, her health declined fairly quickly. Every time we thought we had fixed something, another problem would pop up.

About two years ago, we took her in and I remember we were trying to get her well enough to handle a dental cleaning. Her thyroid levels were off, and then her kidney panels weren’t 100%, and then the dental wasn’t an issue until this summer. Her thyroid levels were finally perfect, but she was losing weight. We (the vet and me) thought maybe she was having mouth pain, so I was paying a crazy amount for prescription cat food. And the day finally arrived to clean her teeth, and the vet determined she wouldn’t be able to handle the anesthesia. 

X-rays showed she had a tumor in her lung, and at this point she was down to about 5 pounds. We were given a series of medications that would help her, but knew we had a matter of weeks left. She made it just under two weeks and we had a mobile vet come to our house to help us. 

Chloe was a huge part of our family, for such a small animal. We adopted her in March 2009 and she handled us bringing two babies home a couple of years later. She was the funniest, quirkiest cat and I keep looking for her around the house, or jumping up because it’s time to give her a medication. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, and the start of my working from home, Chloe would meow loudly when she entered the room downstairs (where my desk is.) It was funny, and I did manage to get a video of it. In May I got a new desk chair and we would fight over who got to sit in it. She often won the fight, and I would sit on an ottoman at my desk. I’m really glad that we were able to be home with her full-time in her final months. 

The kids appear ready to get another pet. My husband and I are giving it some time. Chloe was our first pet as adults and she was a member of our family for 11 1/2 years. That’s a really long time. 

(This photo was from the day we adopted her.)

We miss her immensely.