Help Ease the Loss of Our Beloved Peanut

Hello! Just for being here and reading I want to say thank you. Life has been an absolute whirlwind the past couple of days, and your kind messages and support have meant the world to us. I want to tell you a little about Peanut, and about what unfolded the last couple of days.

Peanut was a rescue cat I found on PetFinder.com when I was in high school. I remember printing out her bio and taking it with me to meet her at a Petco just south of Atlanta. She was an absolute brat, but so loving and so nurturing. Oh, she was so nurturing. I joke that Peanut was a mama before she met me, and I still believe it to be true. Every night she made sure to "feed" me by meowing very loudly and parading to my side of the bed with a felt mouse, every. single. night. Most of you probably know Peanut best for her hiking photos I spam online all of the time. She loves the outdoors and it really encouraged Dan and I to explore Asheville when we first moved here! We even got a Biltmore pass just so we could parade her around the grounds (it is her house after all!) and she loved every second of it. We were even planning her first camping trip! She'd hang out outside of breweries and restaurants, and wasn't even afraid of the car. She put a smile on everyone's face.

On Sunday we had a very normal day until we didn't. While making dinner, Dan noticed that Peanut had seemingly collapsed and was unresponsive. I rushed over to see if she was choking on anything and while she was breathing, her body was limp. We rushed her into the car and to our local emergency vet, VEG, and she slowly came to on the way there. They ran tests, did xrays/ultrasounds, and while her vitals were normal she did have a lot of fluid around her heart. The doctor also wanted us to visit a cardiologist first thing in the morning at Upstate ER in Greenville, S.C. We decided to leave her at our local ER overnight to get that fluid tapped, and for overnight monitoring. We spent a lot of time with her but headed home for rest.

The next day we picked her up from VEG, and she had another episode before we left. While scary we were at the right place for this to be happening. They immediately put her on a table and took vitals which were normal. The doctor told us that she would probably be okay on the ride to Upstate in Greenville, and thankfully she was. She had fluid in her heart still but the majority of it had been tapped. With Peanut and the vial in hand (eventually) we were on our way.

Once at Upstate they took Peanut back right away. They did more ultrasounds, and she saw a cardiologist that honestly couldn't find anything wrong with her heart. They took the heart fluid for testing, and we left her there overnight there for overnight monitoring.

The next morning we left for Greenville around 5am. When we got there, we received some difficult news. Peanut's fluid had come back with red blood cells (blood, not good) and was highly cellular. All signs pointed to a battle with Cancer that was starting to advance. Our options were to spend thousands on invasive surgeries, test, and/or chemo. All were very dangerous, very painful surgeries with long downtime afterwards. After speaking with another specialist who again confirmed that she was not in any pain, we decided it was our jobs as her guardians to make this very important and respectful decision to plan an at-home euthanasia.

We had a wonderful last day. We went to her favorite spot to watch wildlife, Lake Lure, and enjoyed the nice warm breeze. It started to get hot, and although she was having fun she was very tired. It's almost like she knew. She really just soaked it all in, all the sniffs, all the sights, all of it. She was just so happy and happy to be out of the emergency vet.

To our surprise, she was very playful at home. It became very apparent that she was blissfully unaware her body was riddled with cancer. I couldn't ask for anything better, honestly. She even kept me up all night, bringing me those toy mice and meowing all night. I snuggled her so close. She was my best friend and I couldn't of asked for a better companion. Peanut passed peacefully at home around 1:40pm on Wednesday June 19th with the help of Dr. Erin Purvis from 4PawsFarewell. (ANOTHER GIANT PLUG FOR THEM!) They were so kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and most of all gentle with my sweet girl.

I don't write all of this expecting anything. Honestly I write this because she was the best girl, and deserved the world. I hope you all got to know her a little better, and if you feel so inclined to donate Dan and I would really appreciate it. It's been really rough. If you can't donate, please don't feel like you have to. Dan and I can feel all the love from here already. I'm so glad some of you got to meet her. She was an absolute Treasure.

Thank you everyone for reading. Have a blessed day!! Hug your pets and tell them you love them today and always.