26/03/2025
“You can’t save them all”
It’s something you hear all the time as a rescuer.
Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can’t change fate.
Hickory sadly lost his battle to FIP. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, that’s for certain. We grasped at every straw and begged for answers and solutions that weren’t available. We exhausted all options available to save our sweet boy but unfortunately there was nothing more that could be done.
After a week of treatment, around the clock supportive care and almost daily vet visits, he began to rally, he started eating on his own, acting more like himself and his eyes were so full of hope. But when he went to sleep with a full tummy, in his fuzzy bed by our side while receiving lots of pets, he peacefully drifted away. We are grateful the end of his time here on earth was uneventful, unlike his life had been.
Today we are mad at the world. Angry that this horrible disease continues to steal the lives of far too many. Desperate that one day soon they’ll be a vaccine to prevent this so nobody else has to feel this heartache. Sad for Hickory and us that his time here was cut short. Not tomorrow or hopefully anytime in the future but if we run into this inevitable heartbreaking diagnosis again, we will take the plethora of knowledge we learned this time to hopefully save the next kitty.
Our sweet boy overcame so much in his lifetime. He was a fighter.
Hickory came to us as baby after he was thrown out of a moving car with his sister, who sadly didn’t survive. He had a severe double eye infection that ruptured his one eye. Our days with him then consisted of around the clock care, so many antibiotics, eye drops, ointments and serums which ultimately saved his eyes.
Many months after that, Hickory went on to have a sudden breathing emergency once day and developed neurological symptoms out of the blue. Come to find out, he had two polyps, one which was quickly blocking his airway. After a quick emergency surgery, he made a full recovery, though it was short lived. A few weeks later and two new polyps showed up, one in his ear and another rapidly growing to begin blocking his airway. Another surgery after that and he was good as new!
Hickory went on to look for a home for nearly a year. He went to adoption event after adoption event but never received one bit of interest. We were stumped. How could a kitty so loving, sweet, playful, strong and determined, not be able to find a home?
Now we know why.
Hickory was meant to be with us. While we may not have known that then, we know now.
We were blessed to have two beautiful years with this wonderful boy. A kitty so full of personality and love.
We surely faced many hardships together but he overcame every hurdle in his path until now.
Our sweet boy…
Last night was the first night in two years that my pillow wasn’t taken up by you. When we cracked open a can of cat food this morning, you didn’t come running from across the house like you always did. And today the world felt a little more gloomy without your purrfect personality and silly antics that always made us laugh.
After all, “grief is the price we pay for love” and for that, we would feel all these hard feelings ten times over for the gift of getting to know and love such a beautiful soul. Rest in peace Hickory. You’ll live in our hearts for the rest of time.
Thank you to all of those who supported Hickory in his journey. Through every hurdle, you rallied together to help him. Thank you to everyone at East Greenbush Animal Hospital who fought as hard for Hickory as he did. Thank you to Kae for transporting Hickory to his almost daily vet appointments over this last week.
Though Hickory’s story didn’t have the ending we hoped for, we know he was grateful for every moment he had as he showed it every single day. Thank you for your support. Through thick and thin, each and every one of you continue to be here to support countless cats and kittens through both success stories and the hard parts like these. We are so grateful for that.