I had him put to sleep this afternoon.  He had an esophageal stricture
meaning the opening was very narrow.  The vet felt it was probably
cancer but we won't ever know because I opted to not send the specimen
to the pathologist.  There is really nothing that could have been done
other than to insert a permanent feeding tube in his side and feed him
thru that.  He would never be able to eat again, through his mouth.
What kind of life would that be for a cat?  Plus if it was cancer, it
would only get worse and it had, in fact, continually gotten worse over
the last few weeks since he could originally eat wet food but could not
do so any longer.  He would even gag on his own saliva several times a
day and there wouldn't be anything to prevent that.  Those choking and
gagging episodes were awful to watch.  So he didn't quite make it to
9...a pretty short run for a cat but at least he had a home since he
started out as a little feral stray.  And he was a pretty happy cat,
played a lot, loved Abbey.  The euthanasia part never bothers me all
that much, I am glad to be able to be with them.  It's the time leading
up to it when you are torn with indecision that is the hardest for me.
So the worst is over (for me) and I think he's up there with Emily,
Cory, Miles. and all the stray outdoor kitties we have had since living
here and I hope he's eating a nice, big meal again.

Thank you for your concern.  He was a very good and handsome boy.
There's something about an orange cat; it's such an unlikely color for
a cat when you think about it and his orange was very orange.  I'll
miss my orange kitty.

Candace

See my cats, including Scottie:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace