* This Badger is Grey *
We had a blue British Shorthair kitten. Yaya named him Badger. He was not black and white, he was grey. The reason why she named him Badger? Maybe she just likes that word. It was our first ever pet.
We got him when he was about 3 or 4 months old from a lady in Facebook. At first, he seemed to grow up well. He had on & of sneezes and watery eyes. I googled and found out that brachycephalic cats tend to have watery eyes due to defect in tears drainage. I did not think much about it.
Badger died at 8 months old due to Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), in January 2021. It was devastating. The first sign I noticed was lack of appetite. He usually could finish one pack of wet food in one day, but he started to not eat it as much. But, he always finished his water. It was strange, I thought he had diabetes or something. Then, he did not poop as much. Afterwards, he started to become less active. One of the things I noticed was he did not sleep on the rack of the shelf. Instead, he just lied on the lower part, between his food and his litter box. He did not groom himself as much.
We finally brought him to the vet when we noticed his stomach was bulging and it was really obvious when he walked, because his stomach would sway from side to side. At first, I thought it was an intestinal obstruction. The vet told Dearest that it was FIP. She even said sorry and was really sympathetic when she broke the bad news. I was devastated as I googled what FIP was. We even considered euthanizing him to spare him from being in so much pain. But, the vet refused.
When we brought him back home, Yaya especially was very upset. But, she put on a brave face. Badger survived for about one week after the diagnosis. He died under the black sofa in the room. I saw him first, his feet was cold and hard. I did not have the heart to look at his face. I just called Dearest. He buried Badger. Now, he is not okay with having another blue BSH. (I LOVE blue BSH cats...)
My kids recovered quite fast after that. Maybe it was because we only had Badger for about 4 months. But, they missed him, of course. We adopted a domestic shorthair female adult cat after about one month. It did not work out, she was super duper fierce. We let her go after a month of unsuccessful attempt to tame her.
Losing a pet is truly like losing a family member. I hope we do not have to face this again anytime soon.
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