We had 2 15 year old cats. One sickly for the past 3 years and her very healthy littermate.

The day after Christmas, healthy Gus was acting like he had a bit of a tummy ache. He'd just gotten a great blood panel 5 months ago so initially I wasn't worried. By the following Monday he was looking worse, so off to the vet we went. They kept him for the day and concluded by the end of that day that he was riddled with very aggressive cancer. 9 days later he was in such bad shape that we had to let him go. That wasn't quite a week ago and I'm still in a bit of shock. I miss him so much, he was such a sweet guy.

The CC bill will be here in a few weeks with $770 for his diagnostics, some medication to keep him comfortable, the final trip to the vet, and private cremation with upgraded box. He was an inexpensive cat his entire life and brought me so much joy, I have no hard feelings about the cost.

His sister cat has grieved terribly. Initially we were afraid that she was going to stop eating and follow him into the grave, but now she is eating okay again and we hope that she will pull over this hump to be with us a while longer. She is in frail health, so it is always in the backs of our minds that she may not be around long.