The weekends are meant for rejuvenating and recovering from the previous week. Unfortunately, this past weekend was filled with stress and worry. It was not the typical stress and worry people, including myself struggle with and yet was very similar to something I had shared not too long ago.

Our sweet, loving, and amazing older cat has gone through many health issues over the last several months. As soon as we think we are in the clear and he is okay, he shows signs he is not feeling well. Sundance is full of personality and expressions, so it is easy for us to know how he is feeling at any given time. It is heartbreaking when he becomes ill because it leaves us feeling helpless, especially me. After all, I have been the caretaker of our cats.

Sundance was diagnosed with asthma shortly after we adopted him about nine years ago. Since his diagnosis, he has experienced a few asthma attacks, but after the first major episode, I demanded he has an emergency inhaler. We have done everything possible to keep our sweet boy comfortable and happy.

It started on Saturday afternoon, Sundance started coughing and displaying signs of respiratory distress. It was obvious the issues he was having were related to his asthma, so I did give him his inhaler on Saturday afternoon and hoped he would improve. When we woke up on Sunday morning, he was behaving like himself, taking his medicine, and eating his breakfast.

At around noon, he started having abdominal and open mouth breathing. My husband had worked Saturday night, so he was awake when I called him asking him to come into the living room because I needed help with Sundance. Thankfully, my husband can remain calm when I am panicked about our cat’s health. Sundance is feisty which makes giving him the inhaler challenging, so can take both of us to do it correctly. Once we gave him the inhaler, his breathing improved.

I am so glad that my husband can keep me calm when I am terrified that something awful is going to happen to any of our cats. I have always been that type that can go from calm to freak out in less than a second, so it is wonderful having someone that can keep me grounded and balanced. When the temperatures start to get cooler, it causes issues with Sundance’s asthma which is why we have always had humidifiers, but they had not been brought up from the basement yet. They are now cleaned and set up in two rooms in our house and hopefully, that will keep Sundance from having any further asthma scares.

I guess it is safe to say, since we lost Chloe in early February I worry even more. I do not think either of us could handle another loss like this again, especially so soon. We both love our pets very deeply and think of them like they are our children. We are a family of five and cannot imagine life without one of the five. I think the reason why I worry as much as I do is that I love that much. We have all heard that saying, it is better to have loved and lost rather than never loved at all, but seriously, a loss is so painful, and it never gets any easier.

Thank you for visiting my site. I hope you enjoyed what I have shared, and you had a better weekend than I did. Whatever your weekend involved, I hope you remained safe. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!

Always, Alyssa