Torti Dies

UPDATE: The torti died this morning in my arms, in horrible fashion. Her lungs filled with fluids from heart failure. She was fine when I went to bed finally, at 4:00 a.m., well not fine, but not filled with fluids. I had fallen asleep early on my couch and awakened at 2:00 a.m. and checked on her before going back to bed at 4:00.

She struggled to breath through the fluid accumulation to the end, a breath, then the struggle to get air. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to dress quickly, get her to a vet, but I knew she had only minutes by then.

I went into the bathroom again, panicked in my mind and sobbing. I pulled her out and held her, hoping to help her breath, with her head and chest elevated. She struggled so, raking in breaths in terrible trauma through fluid. Then she would twist up crying and moaning horribly when she could get no air, and then it would break through and she'd get a small gulp, then the struggle again. I was sobbing loudly by now. There was one final convulsion when she could get no air, then her body went limp and her eyes dilated and I wrapped her in the blankee and was glad her struggle was over. All this lasted only about six minutes. Before I got up, I don't know how long she struggled to breath. Could not have been long.