Over the course of the spring I fostered 16 bottle baby kitties and this little guy completely stole my heart. I took him in at two weeks, along with his four littermates. His siblings were all perfectly healthy but Gilly had a horrible upper respiratory infection and was 1/3 the weight of the others. The original foster mom couldn't get him to eat and had all but given up on him. A week after coming home with me he was URI-free, alert, gaining weight and eating just as much as his brothers and sisters. I knew I wouldn't be giving him back to the rescue.
However, when he was just shy of 8 weeks, he took a turn and at the first sign of distress I rushed him to the emergency vet, where he spent three days and nights before letting go and going to the bridge. They called it "failure to thrive."
I've never felt a loss so deeply and though it's been five months now, it still hurts. I tried SO hard and failed him anyway. And I miss him
The first picture is of him at about 2.5 weeks (right after he came to me), then at 4.5 weeks and then at 6.5 weeks, a week before I lost him. He weighed a whole 8 oz.
Gilly...3/18/07-5/9/07
Linear Mode
