JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory

By Nicole

13 April 2008

Well Where to begin. In November of 2007 when my husband came home from work he found a very scared and friendly cat in our yard. He called him and he came right to him. So he decided to bring him in for a short time.

We never have figured out who the owners were. We looked for them with no luck. We think someone threw him out because there was an obvious place where a collar was and he smelled like cigarette smoke. But we really can't say for sure.

He quickly found a permanent home with us.

He was the sweetest thing ever. So amazing and gentle with our two daughters. They could do about anything to him and he didn't care. So that afternoon he sat on my oldest daughters lap for a good couple of hours sleeping. My oldest daughter who is about 4 and a half never can stand to sit still for more than 10 minutes max at a time now wanted to to sit with the kitty.

This past February of 2008 we noticed over the course of a few weeks I noticed he was not quite himself but thought maybe he just wasn't feeling well or something simple. He got to where he was not even eating anything unless it was soft canned cat food. One Monday morning very early at that my husband woke me up to tell me he had noticed a swollen spot in his neck. His breathing was heaving and he just was not active.

Later that afternoon I called him at work as I noticed the lump was bigger and breathing heavier. We decided to immediately take him to the vet. Something inside of me told me he wasn't coming back. For a little while I started to get this gut feeling it was feline leukemia. I started to believe this when his attitude changed and he stopped easting and drinking among a few other things that had happened.

The vet started the test and not even half way through the test it came back positive. The interesting thing we found out is it is not the leukemia that kills the cat, it's the complications from it. But the point being he had to be put down. They had to try three times because his veins where so decayed.

I didn't want to say goodbye to him. He will be greatly missed for a long time to come.

I just wanted to share the story about our amazing cat that was with use for not long enough of time. Always get your cats and animals vaccinated as this could have easily been prevented.