Mr Binks: 6th June 2001 – 10th September 2015

Our lovely cat developed a tumour in his chest, either on lung or heart or both, and we decided to spare him further suffering.

The photo is from his last 'public appearance' when he starred in an email I wrote to a bridge group. I was pleased it elicited several soppy replies.

That was April and his health was robust until June. His annual check-up that month went OK but his teeth needed descaling. During that procedure his jaw was broken and wired. The restorative process and removal went well but he began to seem off-colour. He was somewhat withdrawn and our vet discovered a painful spot in his spine. Pain-killers cheered him up but once the course was over he started to relapse. Then suddenly, on Sunday 30th August, he went blind.

We took him to an emergency vets next day (a bank holiday). It was easy to see without instruments both his retinas were detached and they were convinced he had hypertension. But despite readings taken with two different machines his blood pressure was within normal limits. Nevertheless we took a prescription to lower blood pressure (Amlodipine) and hoped for some reattachment.

He coped with his loss of sight with characteristic intelligence and responded to audio signals, tinking food bowls, consistent calls for direction, many of which we had learnt with our last blind cat. He returned to the regular vets on Thursday for another blood pressure check and some blood samples to test kidney function. Both were normal for a cat of 14 years. That was worrying good news, something had to be quite seriously wrong. We stopped the Amlodipine and would return for another check in a week's time.

In retrospect Binks declined sharply yet still kept sufficiently to daily routines for us not to be frightened until the Monday. He was now sleeping 20 hours a day, on Tuesday he had some favourite food but on Wednesday he wouldn't eat. He was breathing with difficulty Wednesday evening and we took him to the Thursday appointment; we could tell our vet was worried. An x-ray revealed a trachea bent out of shape by a growth beneath and a lung filled with fluid. His chest was causing him considerable pain. It was likely he had a secondary on his spine.

We took him home and had a few more hours in the sunshine on the garden bench.