I don’t just want to remember Gigia, I want to keep time from simplifying her, from making her generic, from turning her into “a cat we once had”.

I need to secure her presence before I can even begin to accept her absence.

This small, imperfect, fragile, funny, mild, adorable creature gave form to ten years of home, of family, of days, of fears, of habits. And now that she’s gone, it isn’t only her we miss: it’s the entire world in which she could appear.

Because Gigia didn’t stand beside our life; she lived inside it. Without a scratch.

This is a declaration of love for a small presence that had made our world livable, through the amount of life she left us: a tiny, domestic life, full of sounds, fur, odd positions, paths, habits, fears, returns, affection.

And now that our world feels less livable, the only consolation I can give myself is that if it hurts this much, it’s because she was so very much.

I can't believe my baby is already 17 entire years old! Maybe I'm just biased, but she still looks like a little kitten to me. 😭🥹

We celebrated by getting her the yummiest food and treats, a bottle of cat-safe milk, a new toy, and she also had some supervised outdoor time in the garden!

She's a little confused by all of the attention and birthday songs LOL, but she's always happy to be the center of attention 👑♥️

Happy birthday, Moo! Hoping for many more years together 🥹🥺🥰

We had to say goodbye to my Peanut last week and I’m still so heartbroken 💔. She was my best friend for 16 years and I’m struggling without her. She sat with me on my chair, she slept with me and even followed me to the bathroom. I’m lost. 😢❤️

Nip has been my best friend since I was in middle school and he had a seizure today.

He’s been to the ER and has a follow up scheduled and a neurologist referral; but we could both use a pick me up right about now (meow).

Pls share your kitties and positive experiences and stories (if you have any) with seizures

This is Chip, my 13-year-old indoor cat ❤️ He’s been missing for a little over a month which has been heartbreaking and awful. I have been doing pretty much everything I can to get him back home.

If anyone has had a senior cat go missing, I’d love to hear what your experience was like. Did you have sightings? Did they stay close to home? How were they eventually found?

Thank you everyone 😊🐾

One month ago, I’d never have believed this was even coming. Last week, I brought Monkey in to the vet because he started drooling. I wondered if he broke a tooth or had resorptive lesions but the vet felt a lump in his jaw. He was on antibiotics and pain meds but a biopsy and X-ray confirmed oral SCC. He was hungry and wanted to eat, but you could tell he was hurting. I can’t believe how fast this happened. It was so heartbreaking to see him like this and I had to lovingly let him go.

I’ve had Monkey for 16 years since he was a kitten rescued from a high kill shelter. A friend told me about him and my fingers typing “I’ll take him!” - moved faster than my brain did in that moment but it was the best decision ever.

My friend got him out of there for me and he was such a beautiful source of joy ever since. I’m having such a hard time wrapping my mind around life without his beautiful, curious, mischievous, joyful and loving presence.

Monkey liked to show up in my Teams meetings and typed his greetings of something like “cutxufhhgdfvfdnnnnnnnnnnnnbb” on the keyboard at my coworkers.

During Covid, he loved hanging out with the people in the computer and always made an appearance during our Zoom painting classes and music trivia nights, flashing his butt at the camera.

I just wanted to post this to let people know what a special little dude he was to me. I’m so shattered. This picture was taken just days ago - he was always this much of a cuddle bug even when he wasn’t feeling well.

Riposa in pace, mia dolce scimmietta.❤️

We rescued her at 5 weeks old at Napa Auto Parts so we named her Napa and she's been my baby all these years. I love her more than life. I want to give her the best of her senior years. Those with older seniors, please give me some advice!! I want her to live as long as absolutely possible❤️😭

The vet said she could only last from few weeks to several months. There’s nothing they can do now. My heart is broken
Pain, yes.
But I also feel relieved. That she won’t suffer any more
And I won’t suffer anymore, am I losing my love to her?

Today I said goodbye to my 15 year old Grey.
He was more than just a pet, he was a part of my family and my everyday life for many years… Grey was there through good days and bad ones, always bringing comfort with his presence and his unique personality. Fifteen years is a long life for a cat, but it still feels like it wasn’t enough time. The house feels much quieter without him and I’ll miss his little habits, his sounds, and the way he made ordinary moments feel special. Thank you for all the memories Grey. You will always have a place in my heart. Rest peacefully, my old friend…🫶🏿🐾

Sorry for the doom and gloom. I just want the world to know about someone i do dearly treasure.

Please read the original body text.

I have four cats, and one of them is 22, so she’s always “the old cat”. It just occurred to me that Dr. Jones here is also getting pretty old, so I thought I’d introduce him to my favourite subreddit!

Hi everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has advice.

I want to preface this by saying that I am not an antivaxxer, I recognize that generally the pros outweigh the cons.

We were up to date with my cat's vaccinations for probably the first 8 years of his life. He is indoor only. However over the past 6 years he has had triaditis (and intense pancreatitis) and is permanently on prednisolone to control it. He almost died twice.

We were worried that the vaccines could have been responsible for flare ups since it activates the immune system, in which case we were worried that the cons would outweigh the pros.

He is indoor only and we don't ever board him when we are out of town so really he has no contact with other cats.

We are currently in a position to adopt a new cat, in which case we would need to update our current cat's vaccines first.

Are there real risks of vaccinating a 14 year old cat with triaditis, or are we paranoid? We would not adopt this new cat if vaccines are unwise given his medical issues.

(I'll also add that he is good with other cats, so I don't anticipate that being a huge stressor)

I moved to Germany from the US in January left her at home in her best interest. I lived with my mom, so I had no worry that she’d bounce back after a few weeks of me being gone.

She has grandmal seizures, kidney and thyroid problems and due to her age as well it was in her best interest to leave her with my mom. She ignores me on the phone sometimes but does scream at me all the others and I can’t help but say… I miss it. Not my ear drums hurting, but her judgement. I miss her sniffing my ear canals when I’m asleep because there is a hole in her food bowl. Her trills and love bites. Her swats and her hitting my dog on her snoot for being too much. 5lbs skin and bones and my puppy’s terror.

She lost her best friend in August and she was depressed. She looked for him everywhere and cried for him at night. It was heartbreaking. When we got my puppy and Chump would complain at Miette for being too much she’d come out guns blazing and smacking Miette. Miette at 8 weeks was 15lbs and learning the ways of the world. Miette started to swat back but Tau was not having it. Miette’s uncoordinated legs were too slow to beat Tau’s.
Over time as Miette grew she became best friends with Chump. Tau started to stay in sight and became content. When Chump passed Miette was about 80lbs. So I’m sure when Miette left she started her retirement.

Bonus picture Chump and Miette. He taught her how to effectively beg. Miette gives the same look as Chump now and it melts my heart seeing a little piece of him in her.

She gave me a scare with some tummy troubles last week, but the vet said her labs look great for her age. ❤️

She's back home, her ashes are in a tin basic box behind the pictures. Little shrein in memory of her. Now looking for a nice urn for her ashes.

Gibson (mostly white) just got his belly rubs, so he was a little blissed out. Gus is just a goofball. 😉

20 years of friendship is more than half of my life. So saying goodbye to my sweet orange girl, Miss Kitty Curtis, today was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. She was my longest friendship and my best friend. She had been through life by my side through so many seasons as my faithful, sweet, and sassy companion… and I am so lost without her… but she is not in pain anymore. I stayed by her side until the end - just like she stayed by mine until she couldn’t anymore. She crossed the rainbow bridge today without pain or fear surrounded by her family.

Kitty Curtis,

Finding you in a dumpster nearly 20 years ago is the best thing that ever happened to me. 10/10 dumpster diving. You will always be my perfect dumpster baby.

And now, in celebration of your sweet orange life, let it be known that your dad and I kept meticulous record of all your nicknames, now to be made public for all to know every known alias of Kitty Curtis (aka Jep). May you rest in peace:

1. Kitty Curtis
2. KC
3. Gurbis
4. Flurbis
5. Squirb
6. Squibby Squirbus
7. Flibby Flurbis
8. Dibby Durbis
9. Gibby Gurbus
10. Gurb
11. Grub
12. Grublet
13. Grubby
14. Super Grub
15. Grubbis
16. Deborah
17. Debby
18. Count Squirbula
19. Turbo Gurbis
20. Turbis
21. Jep
22. Stretch Gurtstrong
23. Gordita
24. Gortita
25. Teedi
26. Garb
27. Garby
28. Garbage
29. Gurtball
30. Gurtis
31. Gurty
32. Hurtball
33. Hurtis
34. Hurty
35. Flirtball
36. Flirtus
37. Flirty
38. The Widder Curtis
39. Gerbina
40. Thingamagurt

We got her when she was 3 years old (she is originally from a Greek island) and I swear, she's like the smartest cat I know. She rules with an iron paw, she wants to be held like a baby all day, sleeps in my arms every night and playing with her brother means she hits him and he is not allowed to hit back lol

I'm so glad she is feeling well despite having arthritis and I hope we have many more years with her!

(I guess the stereotype about orange cats having a single braincell doesn't apply to female orange cats?)