I was given Draco in 2004 with his cousin Ramsesses. They were both purebred Smoke Egyptian Mau cats. The breeder just wanted them to have a good home because they were 9 months old. She told me Draco was feral. As soon as I met him he bonded to me like we had always been best friends. I tried to name him Egyptian king names, but he would have none of it, and stood up, turned away from me, and sat down, facing his back to me. For 45 minutes I tried to come up with names and he was simply not interested. Finally I said ok, how about Draco? (Draco is Latin for Dragon). He turned and looked at me, stood up, turned around, sat down, and looked up at me and smiled. He answered to that name every day after that. He named himself. I ended up having to give Ramsesses to a friend of mine because he was always trying to fight Draco. He was a bigger cat at 18 pounds. Draco was almost 13. Draco helped me through so much. In the past 5 years I have had 17 surgeries. I have worked in Law Enforcement and it beat up my body. They were all outpatient surgeries and Draco would not leave my side for 2 days after each one. Arthroscopic surgery to my hips was VERY painful and Draco was lying in bed beside me and he kept looking at the bedroom door. I told him: "Draco, if you want to go out in the other room, go ahead. I will be right here." He immediately got up and went out the bedroom door. He walked by my bedroom door every 15 minutes to check on me. I don't know people that will do that. Anyway, I noticed Draco starting to lose weight even though he was eating. So I had him checked. This was towards the middle and end of 2016. My vet did blood work on him and found his kidneys were starting to fail. So she had me giving him fluids under his skin twice a week as we didn't want him to dehydrate. I had full coverage medical insurance on him and I started the search to get him a kidney transplant. Davis, in Northern California stopped doing those surgeries in 2009 after 400 successful cases. I wish they could have done one more. The vet gave me special foods to give him to help with his kidneys. I remember when I first tried to give him that food, he smelled, it and turned his nose up to it. That upset me and I started crying because I wanted to help him as much as possible. He saw that it upset me, so he ate the food. He went from stage 2 kidney failure to stage 4 from November 2016 to April 2017. We even tried having him at the vet for 3 days while they did fluids intravenously. It helped a little, but not enough. My vet said she has seen where it brought their kidney levels back to normal. Unfortunately this was not the case for my little Draco. I noticed where they shaved his from legs to do the IV in April 2017 the fur wouldn't grow back. I also noticed how he looked like he didn't feel good at nights. The weekend before May 16th Draco started hiding. He was indoor only, so I found him under a bed. I have always known what it means when a fur baby starts hiding when they are ill. The first time I was able to coax him out with a toy. The second time I had to take the bed apart to get to him. So I opened my walk in closet door and let him go in there. I put his food and water in there and a heating pad as that helped with muscle cramps he was getting. That night Draco howled like I have never heard before. He quit eating and drinking and was very constipated. After he howled I jumped out of bed and looked at him. He just looked at me as if he was saying "help." A few times before this happened my vet said it might be time. I said "NO!" Draco will tell me when it's time. With that howling, I knew what he was telling me, as much as I didn't want that to be. That morning I noticed he wouldn't make eye contact with me and I knew. I did hold him as she gently put him to sleep then used the other meds. Before she knocked him out though, I told him this wasn't goodbye, it was see you later. I miss him so very much! I have had other surgeries since then and I really miss him taking care of me. People tell me it gets easier. I have found that is not the case. You just learn to deal with it. When he left me I felt he took a piece of me with him. I do have other cats and I have made sure to give them high quality canned food that is grain free. I didn't understand cat nutrition when I had Draco. So do I blame myself? Yes. Maybe if I had given him the high quality grain free meat canned food he might still be here. All research I have done says that dry kibble with grain in it can damage a cats kidneys and other organs as cats can't metabolize grain. So all my cats now WILL NOT get dry kibble, or any food with grain in it. I will keep feeding them the high quality grain free canned meat. I miss you Draco kitty, and I wish I could have done more for you, but I will see you again someday. Until then, wait for me. I love you Draco kitty!

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