Last Updated September 19, 2007

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Jazmyn and Luv were our beloved cats and lived many wonderful years with us. They filled our hearts and our homes.
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JAZMYN
05/20/1991 - 08/28/2007
Adopted-11/20/1991

(A.K.A. JAM/JAMMY, MOMO, MURR, STINKY, WOOKIE, MOMO GOAT, SQUARK, OLD GREY MARE, CHIP MONSTER, CRANKY SPICE)

Jazmyn in June of 2000 Jazmyn in Summer of 2002

Our older cat (and overall empress of the universe) is named Jazmyn (pronounced JAZZ-minn). She was a stray we found outside of Mark's parents' house. Jazmyn is a deep blue (GREY) color. She kind of looks like pictures of the Turkish Angora breed we found in cat books, but she is pure mutt kitty (and proud of it). Jazmyn enjoys following the sunlight from window to window and pretending she is outside. She doesn't want to be outside (the one time she accidentally escaped the house years ago, she merely laid down on the steps of our deck--soaking up the sun, of course), but she does enjoy dreaming. She simply adores eating Cat Grass and "experiencing" catnip. Oh, the colors! She's quite feisty for her age, but she doesn't let much bother her. We call her the original "Zen Kitty." She absolutely lives in the moment. She loves playing with bird feather toys and watching outdoor birds through the windows. If she gets really excited (or is being picked up), she will "squark." She's really priceless. She doesn't exactly love her new diet (Science Diet Senior beats Science Diet K/D in 1 out of 1 Jammy taste tests), but she's getting her slightly rotund figure back again. We convinced Jazmyn to say a few words (not a difficult prospect around mealtime). Click here to hear a few of the whirrs and meows she makes when she's hungry. Jazmyn has asthma and high blood pressure (and, recently, Chronic Renal Failure), which means she must take 4-5 pills every day as well as twice daily subcutaneous fluid injections. Jammy had a bit of a kitty crisis in late 2006--read the last paragraph of this page for details--but she has been doing relatively well. Jam is, simply put, the epitome of "cat." Independent, sassy, and perfect in every way.
Sadly, Jazmyn has been diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure (1/15/2007-1/18/2007). We're back in the fight. She's taking 1/4 10 mg. Pepcid daily (up to twice daily after the first few days) as well as 200 mL of Lactated Ringers Solution (100 mL at lunch; 100 mL at bedtime). She was already on Norvasc for high blood pressure (now she's getting it daily instead of every other day). We're doing what we can. She seems to be feeling pretty well right now. Keep us in your thoughts.
Jazmyn lost her battle with Chronic Renal Failure Tuesday, August 28, 2007. We were as lucky in the timing as we were with Luvvy. Neither girl suffered, for which we are eternally grateful, and both went very peacefully. Unlike Luvvy, who really had a marked decline, Jazmyn was almost perfectly normal up to 2 days before we euthanised her. Those last two days she moved a good deal slower and was more uncomfortable (kept running from pan to pan leaving little pea-sized spots her last 12 or so hours), but we know she didn't suffer. Luvvy's CRF battle taught us teh signs to watch for. We miss and love both girls terribly. 2007's been a rough year, but Maxie, Bridget, Brandy, Sunny, and Gracie have been an immense comfort in their own individual ways.
For information about Luv's battle with CRF (and Jazmyn's previous renal crisis), see below.
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LUV
08/08/1991 - 01/03/2007
Adopted: 06/05/1994

(A.K.A. PRINCESS, BUNNY, BUBBLES, LUVBUG, MUFFIN, DOVE)

Luv in January of 2001 Luv in Summer of 2002 Luv in December of 2002

Luv is just your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill Champion blue-point Birman. Luv's full name is "Champion Sherchar's Major Valentine's Luv of ShowMe Cats," if you please (or even if you don't please). Birmans are considered the sacred cats of the country formerly known as Burma (Myanmar now), and, after spending a little time with our Luv, one would certainly understand why! Luv came to us when she was unable to have kittens and was a bit too demure to continue showing after championing at her first or second outing. She was only 8 months old when she championed. Way to go, little Luvver! It is lucky that she championed at such a young age, since as her coloring came in (Birman kittens are born white and their color points darken as they age), she had a little white stripe as the blue came in on her chin, which would have disqualified her from showing. We kiss that little white patch often. Luv's mama was a lilac-point, which is lighter than the blue-point, explaining why she was so light in coloration as a kitten and is still a rather light shade of blue. But Luv's looks are only a fraction of the beauty of this cat. She is simply the sweetest, most attentive, and most affectionate cat we have ever met. And, trust me, we have known a LOT of cats. She is also the most people-oriented. She wants to be with us, physically, 99% of the time, which is why I sometimes refer to her as a "doggy" cat (to her great chagrin, I'm sure); she is really the best of both worlds. She has me completely wrapped around her little toepad. We were cat people before we met Luvvy, but we're Birman people now. There is a difference. Click here to hear a few of the insistent meows she makes when she NEEDS a lap (she looks like a lady, but she can curse like a kitty-sized sailor!).

Wiikitty Luv This picture was taken of Luv on the day of the Nintendo Wii game system launch (11/19/2006). Mark took pictures of her in the box the Wii came in. She loved boxes. It was like her favorite thing. He submitted our favorite to Wiikitty.com. She was one of the first Wiikitties. The day after the launch, Luv went blind from high blood pressure. Luv died six and a half weeks later.

Sad Update:
Luvvy died Wednesday, 1/3/2007. 18-20 hours before we euthanised her, just after 1 PM, she had started crying/yowling (fairly quietly at first, but increasing in intensity as the hours passed) whenever she had to move the slightest bit. Though she had been making frequent, relatively small urinations in her pan, she completely stopped urinating after approximately 2 AM the morning before she died. She didn't even urinate when she died. She let us know as well as she could that it was time to let her go, and we didn't draw it out. True to her sweet spirit, she got us through the holidays then went very peacefully. Though she'd had good bloodwork results just 5 days earlier (and her anemia had been lessened enough that she was nearing the date she could stop taking her Epogen; her hematocrit was at 29.5%--we were waiting for it to get to 30%), her kidneys had completely shut down. We miss her more than words can say. If you know us, you know how completely our lives revolved around that sweet girl, especially after she was diagnosed.


The Details of Luvvy's CRF Case:
I can only give the bare facts of Luv's passing on this web page ... Our Luvvy was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure on Thursday, September 21, 2006. An x-ray from August 2006 (taken to see if an obstruction was causing constipation) showed that a kidney that had appeared completely normal March 22, 2006 (an x-ray taken after the big move to California as a baseline), was shriveled. The only thing that seemed wrong with her in March 2006 was that she had a urinary tract infection (we have no idea if UTIs can contribute to or are related to CRF, but, after she was diagnosed with CRF (and well before our move out to CA), she kept coming back with urinalysis results saying she had a mild UTI. As a young cat, she had infections several times after breeding, which is why her breeder spayed her so young and let us have her as a pet.) She had a few bouts of incontinence in fall 2006, which warranted the urinalyses in fall 2006. Her March 2006 renal values were ok. In March, she had high white blood cell count and high red cell blood count as well as 2+ blood in her urinalysis.
Luv was given subcutaneous fluids in late August (after 8/25 & 8/28 vet office visits) 2006, as needed for dehydration.

With the 9/21 diagnosis, Luv was put on daily subcutaneous fluids (100 mL per day, if I remember correctly), and we changed her food to Science Diet K/D. She was given, at most, 3 months to live. Luv got quite thin. She was 6 lbs., 5 oz., in March (rather thin on her largish Birman frame as was normal for her) and hovered around 5 lbs. in the weeks leading to her death. We started checking her kidney values and checking for anemia every 3-4 weeks. Over time, we had to increase the amount of subcutaneous fluids injected under her skin.

Luvvy went blind 11/20/2006 due to high blood pressure caused by CRF. Prior to that, on Luv's 11/8 bloodwork, Luv was found to be anemic enough (Hematocrit of below 20%) to warrant injecting her with 0.15 mL Epogen three times per week (beginning @ November 13th). We were hesitant to start using Epogen (Mark saw that it was considered controversial in some circles), but it gave her a lot more energy and was really a godsend for Luv. She was just much more herself and didn't exhibit any negative side effects.
At the end, she was getting: Though Jazmyn had a horrible acute renal failure episode exactly two weeks after Luv's CRF diagnosis (Jam's crisis was Thursday, 10/5/2006), Jammy has recovered well (though she hasn't lost either of the rather large stones in both ureters, which caused the initial crisis; they don't appear to have moved, according to her x-rays). She had stopped eating and had diarrhea and vomitting as well as decreased urination. Jam had to be hospitalized for 4 days before recovering enough after lots of IV fluids to come home the evening of Monday, October 9, 2006. She doesn't like her Science Diet K/D nearly as much as her Science Diet Senior, but she's doing pretty well. A bit of a ticking timebomb, but we are hopeful. She's lost a bit of weight, which, because she was so heavy, may not be a totally bad thing. We still check her for dehydration daily. If she is too dry (if her skin doesn't snap back quickly when you grab a bit of skin--just below her shoulders OR if her gums are too dry and gummy), she gets 100 mL of subcutaneous fluids nightly until she stops exhibiting dehydration.

For more information about Chronic Renal Failure:
Tanya's Feline CRF Information Centre
Kidney Disease
Feline CRF Information Center Reception Desk