We took him home, and he was healing well. The vet was thrilled with
the jaw healing nicely. And after a week of his eye being sewn shut,
she was satisfied that his tear duct was working again, and they
wouldn't have to remove the damaged eye.

Unfortunately, he was extremely underweight, and while he initially
gained weight, he started vomiting and having diarrhea. We went back
several times. She gave me samples of special food, and we tried him
on a bland diet as well. She gave him supplements that would help him
gain weight and made sure he wasn't getting dehydrated.

he was approximately 8 months old, and longer than my 9 lb cat, but he
weighed just over 6 lbs when he arrived, and under 6 lbs when he died.
He was a walking skeleton. I could feel every bone, even some of his
skull that normally cannot be felt. He just didn't have anything left
to fight with. He only lived about 2 weeks after coming home with us.
He had seemed better and even been to the vet the day before. But I
got home from work, and found him lying on my floor, looking worse. It
was after 11pm, and no 24 hour vet. I prayed he would make it til 8am
when the vet opened. I plan to be sitting outside at 7am so I could
get in as soon as possible, but he died at 3:06am.

It is the worst memory of my life so far, but I am greatful for what
he taught me, and that includes his death. I used to doubt myself for
choosing to put my first dog and cat down. I knew rationally that
their quality of life was gone, and I chose the right time. But I had
always hoped that they would die at home, peacefully, in my arms. When
Jasper died, it was at home, and he was in my arms, but there was
nothing peaceful about it. I know I could not have done any better
since we didn't have a 24 hour vet, and he seemed fine earlier in the
day. But I will never doubt myself again about making the decision.

I also learned about courage and determination and attitude. He left a
huge impression in that short time.

Jasper means "hidden treasure", and I have a treasure chest, painted
black with white feet on the outside, and gold eyes when you open the
lid. Inside, I have a couple bad photos of him (they were supposed to
be the "before" shots in a before and after series) as well as several
types of jasper rock (including some tear shaped stones), his vet
bill, card from the vet and others, a small wood cat painted like him,
the last jar of baby food that he never got to eat, and a page ripped
from a catalog. It shows the stones of the zodiac. I had never heard
of them, and I am not into astrological stuff, but I got this catalog
about a week after Jasper arrived. It was funny because I am a Leo
(cat), and the stone for Leo is Jasper.

Eventually, I will get a larger treasure chest. This one barely holds
these things. I have other things as well, a large beanie baby that
looks similar to him, a nightlight, etc. My mom and my sister find
things that look like him and give them to me for Christmas from him.

I should mention that we  have a fun thing at our house for Christmas.
We buy multiple gifts for each other, and it gets rather boring
putting the same old name as the gift giver for everything we buy. So,
we use the pet's names. It's still obvious who it came from by the
handwriting and various wrapping papers as well as which animal it
comes from. For example, all gifts to my mom will be from *my* animals
*or* hers. But I would not give a gift to my mom from my sister's cat.
Anything from Chase would be from my nephew or for my nephew. And
ghosts are still valid, if the gift is  appropriate to that animal.
All Jasper looking items will be from Jasper. When my sister found a
cute poster that looked like my cat, Fiona, it was addressed from
Fiona. If  find a notepad that looks Tiger, I give it to my sister
from Tiger. It is really fun, and we have a great time with it. It's
amazing how well these guys shop :)