Tiger was only 5 months old. He was a very healthy and strong 8 POUND kitten!!!! He was big for his age because he was part Maine Coon. I took him into my vets office on the morning of September 23, 2002 to be neutered and declawed (I don't believe in declawing a cat, but my fiance would not have him in the house otherwise). They told me I could call after 1pm to check on him. Unfortunately I forgot to give them my new home number so when I called around 1:20pm they said they had been trying to get ahold of me. I was immediately shocked. I thought "why would they try to call me?". The nurse told me to hold. When someone came back on the line it was the doctor. Again I was thinking, "why on earth would the doctor himself need to talk to me?". He went on to explain that Tiger had some type of allergic reaction to the anaesthestic and his heart had stopped beating. If the story ended there I might feel a little more comfortable with him passing away, but it didn't. They were able to bring him back to life with a shot into the heart of Epinephrine. He was having shakes and jitters for the first few hours. They told me that as soon as the medicine wore off that he would probably be fine and could come home. I breathed a sigh of relief and hung up the phone. Tiger was such a lovable kitten. I have never before seen a kitten act that way. He would stick his little wet nose in my face every night and his whisker would tickle me. After he got his fill harassing my face he would curl up at the top of the pillow on my hair and go to sleep. When I was watching TV he would get up in my lap and climb up on my chest and shove his face into mine. He would rub his nose all over my face and nuzzle up to my neck. He had the loudest purr....I used to say people down the street could probably hear him! A few hours went by and I called the vet back to check on my baby, the doc was busy so my fiance and I hopped in the car and drove all the way from SW 66th to NW 63rd (in Oklahoma City thats a long way). When we got there the doctor came out with bad news. Six hours had passed since they brought him back and he still had the shakes and was having frequent seizures also. The vet informed me that I could come back around 7pm and take him over to the Emercency 24 hour hospital so they could watch him overnight. On the trip to the hospital I sat in the backseat with my baby and tried to soothe him as he twitched and seized. I have a seizure disorder also so it was that much harder to actually know what he was going through. I brought him into the hospital, as they whisked him away he began to meow loudly....a painful meow. It broke my heart. I met with the emergency vet who was a cat specialist. He said they were going to pump him full of fluids to try and flush out his system and give him valium to calm the seizures. I went home, crying all the way, with a broken heart. I was hopeful at the same time that he would pull through. "He's a strong kitten" I kept telling myself through the tears. I went back to the emergency clinic around midnight. They said he was doing about the same and that the valium was not enough to stop his seizures. They let me spend some time alone with him in one of the rooms. I petted him and kissed him and told him I loved him and that he needed to get through this. He had 4 seizures in the 30 mintues I spent with him. The nurse came in and told me he needed to back into his cage to get some rest. The doctor came in and told me that if the seizures hadn't stopped by morning that he would need to be put to sleep. I went home and tried to sleep but all my dreams were filled with a little striped kitten. I woke up around 6am and immediately called to check on my baby. The doctor said his seizures had subsided and that was a very good sign. He said that the doctor from my vet's office would be picking him up around 9am and to call then. I felt so much better. I thought my baby might make it. I went back to sleep for a few more hours. I was woken up by the phone around 9am. It was my vet. He said that when he picked Tiger up at the emergency clinic and transported him that he began to have seizures again. He said that it had been 24 hours with no improvement and that he more than likely would not recover. I told him to wait till I got there to do anything. I picked out an old sheet of mine and mustered up the courage to say good-bye to my beautiful little baby. They brought him into the patient room and informed me that between the time we last spoke on the phone and when I got there that little Tiger had gone into a coma. I was holding the sweetest baby kitten when God finally called him back. I guess he was just too sweet for this world. I wrapped him in the sheet and held his lifeless body in my arms on the drive home. We dug a hole in the backyard in the shade of the Yucca plant, where he loved to hang out. I am writing this story the same day. I am currently trying to carve his name into a small concrete slab as a kind of headstone. Tiger "Tee-gray" Rosenbaum 3-28-02 to 9-24-02