The Price of Love...

For those that don't have a pet as part of their family, you might not have the same feelings as those of us that do. If you only have a dog, you may not understand what others see in cats. For some of us, our pet is part of our family...an extension perhaps, and one that cannot talk in english but yet relays their thoughts and feelings none the less.

Maggie is MY cat. Don tolerates him...yes, that's right, his name is Maggie but he's male! The short story on that is that I was told he was female, named him, and a few months (or maybe it was only weeks) later, found out that he was definetely a male! He already had a name that he responded to so Maggie stuck! It actually fits his personality! Or I blame his personality on being named Maggie! My kids, Kimberleigh and Nathan gave Maggie to me on Mother's Day in 1993...he was only 7 weeks old!

About a month ago I noticed Maggie limping. Because he's strictly an indoor kitty and due to his age, I figured it was probably a little arthritis. Once we got here to So. California and things settled down, I took him to the vet and received the shock of my life! The vet suspected bone cancer. We did blood tests and x-rays and confirmed the worst. Last week a biopsy showed that Maggie has highly invasive osteosarcoma. His prognosis is "highly guarded". In a younger cat they would amputate his leg and most likely he would have quite a few years left but in a cat Maggie's age, the vet isn't even recommending it. The vet has basically told me that Maggie has about 4 months before the pain in his leg and/or further complications from the cancer will necessitate making the decision to have him put to sleep.

I hate the thought of losing him. I thought I had so many more years left with him. I can still remember the day that I held Kobie, my 17 year old cat the entire day before I knew I had to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep.

Recently I had someone ask me "what I saw in cats". His comment was that dogs come when they are called and take an active part in your day to day activities. Guess they just don't know cats like those of us that are owned by one! Maggie comes when he's called! It might be on his terms and only when he wants to, but he knows his name! Everytime I go into the bathroom...he's right there! What he really wants is for me to turn the water on...he loves fresh, running water! :-) Every night he jumps on the bed, waits for me to get under the covers, get settled and then he jumps over me, sometimes bites my nose, sometimes licks the blanket (don't ask me why he started this) and then curls up and drops down right next to me! I'm not sure if he leaves for long since he's always in the same place in the morning! In the morning when I'm putting my make-up on, he's right there with me...sometimes eating his food, sometimes just visiting! During the day he'll often come out to visit! He's always seemed to know when "I" needed a little extra attention and been right there to rub against me, purr or "ask" for me to scratch him. When I've been gone for a few days he's been quite vocal when I've gotten home to let me know that he missed me and he doesn't want me to leave! He also likes to play, although he has slowed down a lot over the years! He loved chasing "fluffs" (pom poms to you and me), the plastic ring off the milk carton or that elusive string!

Our animals offer us so much in our lives and they really ask for very little. I keep asking myself...where did all the time with Maggie go? It seems hard to believe that he is 13 years old. It seems harder to think that I have so little time left with him. I will have another cat somewhere down the road but it will never replace Maggie. There will never be another cat like Maggie...Maggie is definetely one of a kind!