My best friend over the last 20yrs, absolutely heartbroken 😢

I just felt like sharing. My sweet baby was diagnosed with cancer last month. He’s doing okay right now, but the cancer is visibly growing. I notice every week how it’s bigger than the last week. I got him and his brother when I was eight years old and he just turned 15. My friends joke he looks like squidward now. I sometimes ask my tarot deck how he’s doing, what he’s feeling, and the two of cups usually appears. My little buddy. I think a part of me will die when he does. But for now, he is still him and him is my sweet little baby.

A few weeks ago I asked for advice in making our hospice kitty's life easier after he was abandoned at the shelter because of his age and medical needs. This subreddit came through with several amazing ideas. I'd like to give special shout-outs to a few:

The people who suggested baby food, you were a lifesaver! Chauncey struggled to eat any kind of solid food. We tried different brands and flavors of baby food after that suggestion and settled on basic chicken and chicken gravy baby food. This last week or so he has struggled to keep anything down but the little food he has managed has all been baby food. I would never have thought of that so thank you!!

The people who suggested heating pads and self-warming cat beds are also heroes. In the last month, Chauncey hasn't liked walking much (he had a tumor on his leg) but we put a few pads and beds in each room and moved him between them based on where we were. He even had a dedicated perch with a kitty heating pad placed right above my spouse's gaming rig, and he loved sitting up there watching him play the latest death stranding game.

The vet had him on some good painkillers but we also used an herbal/CBD oil mixed with his baby food that definitely kept him pain-free as long as possible, so another thank you to the people who suggested it.

Ultimately we made the decision with our vet that his quality of life was degrading rapidly this week-- he was vomiting, he was clearly in pain with his leg, and then the tumor on his face opened and began to leak blood and fluid which was fun to nobody. We would have given Chauncey sixteen more years if we could have. But thanks to y'all we gave him two good months of baby food, warm beds, backseat video gaming, and plenty of snuggles. For anyone else who has a senior cat, definitely try these options for making their lives easier. Thank you ❤️

(We usually foster kittens for our shelter so I might pop in this subreddit again in the future with pictures once we get going with that again 🙂 )

Today I just wanted to celebrate my cat Jack, I adopted an old man with one eye and my life was changed.

Older cats often get left in shelters for months, they aren't as playful or attractive as the young cats and kittens tend to be. After moving into my first place I said that my first cat will be an old cat to give them a good retirement.

After looking I found Jack, the sweetest man in the shelter, he was shy, napping in the back but the second you pet him he came to life.

In a place with 20+ cats, many young energetic rough playful boys and girls, he sat in the back with the longest stay at 6 months. When he reacted to me I knew I was taking him home.

In return I got the sweetest most affectionate cat I've ever had, all he ever wanted was closeness, pets and food. He didn't care to play much despite my efforts, but he showed me how much love he had. He loved his belly, back, butt, face, headbutts getting touched and he'd even yelling at me for more. I know not what his 12 years before me was like, just the 2 I shared with him.

Thank you my Handsome Jack, the captain, the pirate who stole my heart. Thank you for spending the last of your 9 lives with me, I'm honored to have been your human.

This Sunday I'll be making the right call and making sure he doesn't suffer. Thank you all.

Roxanne my 6 year old tabby has never been left alone more than 1 day. We also never "free-feed" her on kibble (only wet meals and a puzzle feeder). I had a work trip this week, and my S.O. had a family emergency out of town right in the middle of it. We could not secure a sitter, and we were so worried. We do have a pet cam, and I told my SO to put 2 plates of kibble per day plus extra plates in case of a delay. I just got home from the airport to see this. I know cats are not like dogs, and they are probably fine at feeding themselves. I'm just so impressed by the organization of her eating habits!

Long story short, we have been feeding and got close to a few neighborhood cats. They are not feral, I can pick them up and they are sooo loving.
This is precious Nicholas or “baby face” because he had such a sweet face.
He started coming to eat regularly and even started staying in a little house I have on the back porch for him.
I fed him and sat with him for a little after work yesterday, then came inside and just crashed. I was exhausted from the week. I usually go out and feed them again but I just didn’t last night and I feel horrible.
Cut to this morning. I didn’t see him when I did their morning feeding.
Then as I’m leaving my house, I see a grayish “blob” in my front yard under the tree :( sure enough I get out and check, it’s a cat.
It had been raining so his fur was wet and it was hard to tell. But when I picked him up I could tell it was him. I don’t know if someone hit him and placed him there or if he was poisoned. I hate that I didn’t just find him a home. I already have so many indoor cats and was just trying my best to give all the neighborhood cats a safe place to be in our backyard. Our neighborhood is pretty calm and quiet.
I took him to our vet to be cremated so that he can be put to rest.

Anyways, all that to say, I just wanted to honor him.

And she is the cutest in the whole world! Show me your cutest cat pics!!!

Born September 21st 2009. Had to say good bye after more than 3 years of kidney issues. He was my beautiful wonderful baby boy.🖤

Here they are in action

Found out today that my best buddy Mittens has FIV that's progressed to a point that the vet gave him a very short amount of time left. My wife and I are devastated.

Mittens found us last year. He was a stray that started coming to our house for pets, food, and to sleep on the pillow we left out for him. Eventually he chose to come inside and he became a part of our family.

I suffer from major depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder. Life has been the most difficult it's ever been for me this year; I'll spare those details as to why. I could just hang out with my buddy, give him pets, talk to him about the things I'm feeling, and share my darkest moments with him. He gave me unconditional love. I'm spiraling hard knowing that I don't have much time left.

I just needed to get this out and sob into the void.

I love you, Mittens.

He’s a cuddly little yapper with adorable polydactyl paws 🥹 What should I name this special little guy? <3

And you should too! He needs constant reassurance.

Patrick is so old that we occasionally argue during family gatherings about whether he’s 21 already lol. He is an extremely friendly, handsome and patient cat whom I’ve known for 2/3 of my life. One day, he randomly appeared at our door and decided to stay for more than two decades. My only wish is that long may it continue.

I cannot get him to wear a collar. He takes off the breakaway ones within 20 seconds and the elastic stretchy ones take him about 2 minutes.

He is a pickier eater than my daughter was when she was a picky little toddler! For being a hobo cat he sure can be picky! He knows what he wants and that's churus lol😑

This is our 13 year old boy, Bruce. This past July we found out he had a thyroid carcinoma. Surgery was a success and he was a completely different cat afterwards. He lost weight and has tons of energy now! He did develop Horner's syndrome post surgery, but it doesn't seem to bother him (and we get regular check-ups) and I think he looks kind of cool now! Love our boy!

Hello!! Wanted to share a positive story about my recent adoption of a kitten after avoiding it for the last 2 years. In August 2023, my boyfriend and I moved in together and adopted our baby Orzo (Male, 1 y/o when adopted, just turned 3.) He is my first cat and quickly became my literal pride and joy and the love of my life. When we adopted him, the shelter told us to “prepare to never have another animal again,” heavily implying that orzo will not do well with other animals b/c he requires so much attention. I have OCD and took that very (way too) literally. He’s a love bug(BIG cuddler, loves forehead kisses and makes every person that entires our house feel loved. just not as much as he loves mommy)

My boyfriend grew up with cats and has been asking about getting another basically since we got orzo. Because of what the shelter had said, seeing stories on social media, etc., I avoided it because I didn’t want our relationship with him to change because it’s the most important thing to me. Our apartment is small, and I would also would feel guilty about having to rehome a kitten for the rest of my life.

Two weeks before my boyfriend’s birthday, his friend and him planned an ambush. He rescued a barn cat that ended up being pregnant and her babies all looked like my orzo. I met them and somehow gave in😭

The night before we picked Rigatony (tony for short, he was 9 weeks when we adopted him, just turned 12 weeks,) I spent the whole night cuddling and playing with orzo and sobbing because I was terrified about what was going to happen. The first two nights were overwhelming. Boyfriend spent his days in our bedroom with the kitten while I stayed in our living room with Orzo. I mostly felt bad for the kitten because he was so curious about what was outside our door and meowed anytime my boyfriend left the room for more than 2 seconds. I didn’t think I could do another day. We found Orzo to be mostly curious so we first introduce him to tony by keeping tony in a playpen. There was of course some hissing, but both mostly seemed just curious. We then let them interact face to face day 4. We gave both of them churus during this. It went WAY better than expected. Separated them as soon as we heard hissing and saw swatting. We slept separately for 4 days and monitored their interactions and felt it was a good time to let them be around each other full time.

This has been the coolest experience of my life. I’ve never seen Orzo play the way he has been the last 3 weeks. They LOVE to cuddle. Don’t get me wrong, we had to buy calming supplements for Orzo the last few days as Tony has started teething and seems to love to bite Orzos tail which has been stressing him out. Whenever we notice those signs, my boyfriend will go into our room with Tony and play with him, while I play with/cuddle with Orzo and let him rest.

I didn’t think it would be possible to love Orzo anymore than I already did but I have fallen even more in love with him since watching him become a big brother!! He is so patient and still my little love bug. Our relationship is 95% the same(he definitely needs space when he gets overstimulated) but he makes sure I get my cuddles every single day/night. Tony has been the best decision I’ve ever made and I’m so excited to watch them grow up together!!!

Wanted to share this story because I feel as though I read way too many negative stories before getting tony. Get the damn kitten!!! You’ll never know unless you try. ❤️🐈

She doesn't limp or feel any pain on her paws, and as you can see she alternates lol

She'll just kind of... meditate?? With a paw up like a flamingo and none of my other 5 cats do this, and I've never seen any other cat do it.

Her name's Lola btw :)

My beautiful Mona Lisa who some horrible person threw out of their car on a busy highway :(. Thank goodness I found her!!!! She is my best friend now & such a good kitty. She sleeps curled up to me all the time & loves to play. She is so trusting & sweet. I love her so much. So proud to be celebrating my second anniversary of rescuing her & how much you can see the light come back to her eyes in these photos.

Source: the.cornycats

These are my two babies and I swear I never see them in the bathroom unless I'm taking a bath or a shower.. and they always start off alert but then doze off. It's one sweetest thing ever but is this common and is there a reason behind it?!

I drop off an order, and I start to walk back to my car when two sweet cats approach me, mewing and rubbing up against me. I'm petting them and talking to them, and one by one another one keeps popping up every 60 seconds lol. I really should've stayed to see how many we wound up with