Delilah: The Sequel

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Delilah’s Twist

I could not have made up this outcome. It would have seemed contrived and unbelievable. Sunday evening, Delilah was in bad shape. She had stopped eating and drinking, only sleeping in her bed.

     My daughter called all these different Vet ERs, and they all said, “8-12 hour wait.” The last place she called gave the numbers of other 24-hour Vet ERs. She had no names, just phone numbers.

     So, she called the place at the top of the list, and the kindest person ever said, “Bring her right in. We will bump her to the top of the list.” My Honey puts Delilah in our cat’s carrier (which I’m sure our indoor cat, Abby Rhodes was happy to give up as it meant no vet visit for her!), and the ER was only five minutes away from our house!

     We walk into the cleanest facility I have ever seen in my life. It was cleaner than any hospital for people! The prognosis was not good. Multiple organ failure, and we were faced with the horrible decision to put her out of her pain.

     The doctor said she was in massive pain and that any care would be palliative. Even with that care, it would require hospitalization for 24-hour round-the-clock fluids, scanning the organs for further damage and the list went on with no guarantee of outcome. It was grim; we were heaving tears of sorrow and grief. Our sweet Delilah…, but this story is not over yet.

     Right before we left for the Vet ER, I thought to print up the PetLink information about her “owner” and gave it along with the recent bloodwork and vet workup to the ER Doc. The ER assistant pressures Petlink into giving her the owner’s number, given the severity of the situation, and they do!

     The owner calls the ER back. She says her ex-husband had said he had had her two cats euthanized, but she is no longer with him and now lives an hour away.

She said she was heading down to the ER. At that point, legally, we had to relinquish all care to the owner. The terrific doctor is in tears, apologizing for everything.

     Sylvie and I say our goodbyes to the sweet soul who is Delilah and thank her profusely for choosing us to care for her, love her, and for sharing her life with us. We are in total disbelief that the owner is coming for her cat, and my daughter reminded me that initially, all we wanted was to return her to her owner.

     The following day, we were both still in tears, missing our girl, and my daughter decided we should call the ER to find out what happened. The doctor who had worked on Delilah happened to pick up the phone, right before she walked out the door, as her shift was over. She is delighted that we have called. Apparently, about an an hour and ahalf after we left, the owner walked into the exam room; Delilah came out of her carrier, climbed up the owner, perched on her shoulder (which is why they called her Owl), and began purring and rubbing the owner. The owner pays for the ER care to enable her to transport Delilah/Owl to her Vet by her house. She plans to hospitalize her and nurse her back to health. Will she recover from multiple organ failure? We do not know, but we do know that Delilah/Owl loves her owner and, even after a year and a half apart, felt such intense joy at their reunion. So, my daughter and I are going with the power of love and good medicine as the answer Delilah needed.

     We miss her. It still is so lonely going into the backyard without her coming to the door to greet us. But love is greater than grief. And this time, it wins.