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Lukie Shanahan
1996 ~ October 24, 2011
Lukie, my favorite photo of him
Lukie on vacation on the porch, 2011
Lukie on vacation in the window, 2011
Lukie loved Christmas!
Sweet Lukie
Lukie handsome!
Lukie on vacation in 2007 with Pokey & Gumby
Lukie with his Dad
Lukie with his Mommy
Lukie's Photo Above when he was about 6 months old
(Original notice of Lukie going to Heaven ~ October 26, 2011
I am extremely sorry to say that Lukie went to Heaven today. Jack and I are devastated to lose Lukie. He was 15 ½ and we took him in as a feral cat when he was about 6 months old. I thought after losing Pete almost 10 years ago that we might take this easier, but that’s not the case. Thank God he is in Heaven with Pete now, but it is going to be very painful for some time.
We brought Lukie to the vet October 21st because he stopped eating. His kidney numbers went through the roof and the only treatment is fluids which the heart can’t handle. So they proceeded to do a more moderate fluid flush process.
He had both congestive heart failure AND severe kidney disease. This is an extremely bad combination, because the treatment for congestive heart failure is to force the body to expel fluids via drugs, which causes more damage to the kidneys. On the other hand, treating kidney disease requires addition of fluids to flush the kidneys, but leads to buildup of fluid around the heart and lungs, which of course worsens the congestive heart disease. Lukie had no way out.
At the end, he had renal failure (his kidneys completely shut down) and congestive heart disease. There are other details as he needed oxygen for his respiratory rate was very high as a result of trying to bring the kidneys back. He was anemic and his red blood cell count was very low and could only be corrected by transfusion and his heart wouldn’t take it. His blood pressure was 45 and should have been 120.
In the over 2 days that he was home he did not urinate, ate no food and drank water only Saturday. He started to vomit awful stuff, he was requiring the oxygen constantly by this morning. He was in pain and couldn’t walk, he was stumbling. It was very sad and heartbreaking, but also bittersweet – in being home for the last 2 days, he let us know how much he loved us, and how glad he was to be home even though he was in severe pain. We were able to comfort him, and love him in the last hours of his life.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. Niki & Jack