The past few weeks have been extremely painful to go through! My beloved cat Dundun was diagnosed with a fast-growing tumor underneath her tongue. Not only her tongue was severely pushed to one side and she was profusely drooling, but she started to have huge difficulty using her tongue to eat or drink on her own.
The result of Dundun’s biopsy from her tissue in the mouth came back neg
ative initially which was a huge relief for us, but Dundun’s condition worsened very quickly and the follow up treatment didn’t improve at all. The doctors then suspected that it was a type of bone cancer on her jaw and took more x-rays. The diagnosis confirmed the suspicion and the doctor said unfortunately there weren’t many options, and the only way to treat her was through surgery to cut her jaw and to do chemo afterwards. This is obviously a very aggressive procedure and is very painful for Dundun to go through without any guarantee Dundun can survive and have a quality life after that.
Meantime, Dundun’s condition deteriorated. It was so painful to see Dundun sit next to food and water wanting to eat and drink but just couldn’t do it any more. We know cats can’t live more than a few days without food and water, so we sta
rted to hand feed her through a small syringe tube two to three times a day. At first she was able to get the food and liquid this way, but as the lump got bigger to the point where I couldn’t find her tongue which was pushed to the back. Last Friday, Dundun refused to eat or drink anything via the syringe and her mouth started to bleed. We took her to the doctor immediately and the doctor told us that we had to let her go to end all her sufferings.
Dundun passed away in our arms peacefully without pain. My heart was broken into so many pieces knowing I just lost her forever. The pain was excruciating not only because I saw how she went from a perfectly healthy cuddly creation to seriously ill so quickly, but the feeling of guilt that I didn’t spend enough time with her to give her more love and attention.
Coping after Dundun’s death is an emotionally crushing process. The feelings of sadness and disbelief and grief just keep consuming me piece by piece and are going circles. Dundun was only eight and half years old and we only spend a little over four years with her since our friend brought her to us in 2010. I know I have to find a way to manage my deep sorrow and emotions, so I have decided that the best way for me to cope with my loss is to share with friends who either heard about or met Dundun those wonderful happy memories and moments we had with Dundun via her pictures and videos we took.
My friend who adored Dundun said, “Dundun is one of those cats I would want cat haters to meet because she’s so sweet and friendly. Who wouldn’t love her!” Dundun just loves people and would always hop right onto you chest and purr and knead.
Dundun, I will love you forever! I know that you are now in a better place with no pain and all the fish and shrimp canned food your heart desires!
We just love Dundun’s cute little white paws. Hence the name of this blog site. That’s one of her best features.
We were able to capture so many different sleeping postures from Dundun. Here is a showcase of the most interesting ones.
Dundun is a very playful cat. She keeps herself pretty entertained most of the time and enjoys playing with us as well.
Dundun just loves fresh flowers and plants. Every birthday and valentines’ day, when I get flowers from hubby, she would be the first to acknowledge them and enjoy them 🙂
Dundun kept careful watch of our neighborhood and is always vigilant about what’s new to the house. Nothing can escape her thorough inspection.
Dundun is the most loving cat and is extremely cuddly. She loved to be around us and most importantly to lean against us 🙂 Our cat sitter once said, “She is one of those cats I would want cat haters to meet because she’s so sweet and friendly. Who wouldn’t love her!” Not only to us, even to our friends, Dundun would hop right onto their chests and purr and knead. She is a darling cat. My friend even said once that she wish her cat would do that.
One of Dundun’s best featues is her “Tuxedo”. It looks as if she wears a perfectly fit tuxedo which makes her so elegant and classy.
Dundun entered my life on Thursday, March 11 of 2010. Our friend Runchuan raised her for two years before he gave Dundun to us, and before that Dundun allegedly was raised by his friend for two years since she was born. Runchuan was relocating out of the country for good due to a job change, therefore we decided to welcome Dundun into our house and to provide her a life-time of love and care.
Dundun was very friendly initially but upon realizing that she was about to get left behind yet again, she rushed to hide herself underneath our sofa as soon as our friend left. However, being such a loving creation and full of affection for people, she came out and started to show her belly to us as a sign of trust on her second day 🙂
