~Dedicated to the memory of Amber who we sadly lost on 25th February 2003 ~

Born 15th February 1997

Jefferson's sister

Other names included Ginger Thing and Our Ginger Witch.  She earned the nickname Ginger Witch not because she was nasty but because she was so clever and her intelligence would lead her into mischief.  This is what she was called the most to be honest but she always answered to Amber too.

Amber and her brother Jefferson were abandoned when just a few days old.  They were the only surviving kittens in the litter.  The mother cat had so many litters of kittens over the years and each time they were all abandoned at the veterinary practice where my friend works as a nurse.  The guy would not have his cat spayed as he said "It wasn't the cats choice".  His ignorance was appalling.  However this ignorance led us to have 2 wonderful hand reared kittens.

The sad part for us was knowing that there was a heart condition within this line of cats.  Amber was born with a heart murmur and we had to accept from the start that if anything was going to happen to one of our cats it would probably happen to her first.  A lot of the other kittens she was related to were dying suddenly at the age of 5 - 7 years and no-one really could understand why.  

The problem with the hearts of these cats was unknown in the early years, it was mainly when our friend lost 2 of her cats to this condition that it led her to contact specialists to investigate further.  A condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (which is where the heart wall thickens) was diagnosed but for unknown reasons it leads on to affect other organs like the kidneys.  Our friend has had lots of specialist people look into this and there is currently a specialist in cats hearts looking into this condition and trying treatment on some of the Schofield kittens.

From such a young age Amber had always had an obsession with water, she even used to get in the bath with me.  One of her ginger witch moments was when she used to tip all the water bowls over, play in the water and lie in it.  Of course she loved to drink it too either straight from the tap, a bowl or even the bird bath would do.  So we never ever got concerned about the amount of water she drank as she had always done it.

In February 2003 we noticed that she seemed to lose weight very quickly.  She did not appear ill in any way and was still her normal active, friendly and witchy self.  The only thing she was doing was not eating all her food and we thought she was being picky and so changed the flavour and she was OK for a day or two and ate it all.  Then back to nothing. She was not happy to let us look at her mouth so we thought she may have a problem with her teeth so arranged for the vets to see her.

Sadly it was the day we had dreaded and although had expected it nothing had prepared us.  Her mouth was fine.  Our vet felt her tummy and kidneys and could feel lumps and bumps on them.  The results of the blood tests and scans were not good.  At the age of just over 6 years old Amber was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure.  We knew there was nothing that could be done but it was hard to accept.  The only thing really to help her was to put her on a drip for 24-48 hours to help re-hydrate her.  We must have been the easiest clients in the world for our vets as we accepted what was said.  They liaised with my friend and her colleague over this condition so they could do all they could but we were told to expect the worse. When we saw her that Friday night she was purring and so happy to see us, she never liked going to the vets, but even then we knew we were saying goodbye to her and it broke our hearts having to leave her over the weekend on a drip when all we wanted to do was take her home.  As she wasn't eating it was important to try to do something.

We brought her home on the Sunday and she was so bloated with all the fluid that had been given to her.  We had to give it 24 hours to see if she would improve.  She stayed on our bed all the time, we even let her sleep with us.  her brother Jefferson sat over her watching her closely, not letting the other cats go near. Tuesday came and we knew it was time to say goodbye.  She hadn't purred once since being home and the bloated look wasn't going.  Her breathing was laboured and far from normal.  It sounded to us as if fluid had got onto her lungs.  She looked at us as if to say "this is it".  She knew and that made it harder for us as we didn't want to let her go but knew it was the only thing to do.  We had always said that no matter what happens to any of our cats we will never let them suffer just because we want to keep them for a bit longer.  With Amber it was the shock of it really, it all happened so quickly and all we thought was initially wrong with her was her mouth. 

We took her to our vets that evening and stayed with her until she fell peacefully asleep.  It was the hardest thing either of us has ever had to do and it broke our hearts.  We decided to have her cremated so she could be with us still in some way.  We were also in the process of moving house and with a matter of weeks to go it was so sad that she wouldn't be joining us and the other cats in our new home.  It was as if she had to go then, as if she knew in her own way she had to go from our old home and not have to take her to the new house to die.

Although we knew Amber would probably end up being the first cat we lose due to this heart condition, nothing prepared us for the day we had to say goodbye.  It was like losing a member of our family.  Our cats are our feline family.  We love them all to bits.  However we are lucky we had Amber, after all she was abandoned with her brother and they managed to survive.  We had 6 wonderful years of her life and have got great memories and pictures.  Her brother Jefferson has recently developed a heart murmur, it may or may not be related.  We shall get our friend to speak to the specialist and possibly get his heart scanned.  Either way we can not worry too much or get upset at this stage but we will always do what we can for our cats.

"Amber we miss you and love you so very much, we miss your witchy ways, your naughty tricks and the way you could drive the other cats mad.  Thank you for the time you gave us and the joy you brought to our life. We'll never forget you - our ginger witch....."