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December 31, 2007
Abigail was one of the original foster cats. She was being fostered by us before Companion Critters, Inc. was formed so she was with us for almost 8 years. She had come in with two kittens, one of which was very small and died early on. At the same time we had Celeste, another cat with a litter of kittens and Abigail and Celeste would swap mommy cat duties. One would nurse while the other would clean and the next time they would switch. Abigail was a very friendly cat but she was not one to enjoy petting and would never sit on a lap voluntarily. It simply was not her thing. She let you hold her, but you could tell she was merely tolerating it. So for this reason she was never adopted. We "hired her on" permanently with Companion Critters, Inc. because she was an awesome dog tester. She loved dogs and Abigail knew which dogs were kitty friendly and could be approached and which dogs needed to be avoided at all cost. She was never wrong. It was because of Abigail that we placed hundreds of dogs knowing if they could live with a cat or not. She was invaluable to us. Three years ago Abigail was diagnosed with IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease). She suffered chronic projectile diarrhea and frequent daily vomiting. We started using the larger dog litter boxes to contain her diarrhea. After being on medication for 1 1/2 years, we almost lost Abigail in June 2006 because the medicine had messed up her liver. She bounced back and went from an emaciated 5 pounds up to over 8 pounds. She no longer received medication but we treated her with probiotics and high fiber supplements. That maintained her for another year and a half until she plummeted back down to 5 pounds and stopped eating, and Abigail never missed a meal. We could have put Abigail back on medication and let that kill her in a few months but that was not the answer. IBD is not curable and it had taken its toll on her. So we sadly let Abigail go to the Rainbow Bridge. We miss you, Abigail, the best dog tester ever!
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