Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Lloyd Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and Pickles showed up to eat this morning. Summer is fast approaching but it's still relatively nice for a few hours in the morning.
Aleksei and Little Brother died since I last wrote. Aleksei suddenly got very sick in early March and ultimately was diagnosed with leukemia. We escorted him across the day after we got the news, March 16. He could barely move by that time, his energy was so depleted. He’d always been the robust picture of health until these weird subcutaneous bumps started appearing all over his body in December or January. We always get our guys tested when we adopt them but somehow the FeLV virus was hidden or missed when he first joined our gang.
Little Brother crossed a few weeks later, April 7, we believe of a cancerous tumor he had in or around his small intestine. Little Brother was an older kitty, at least thirteen years based on the information we had from his former humans (or subhumans) Melissa and Dean, former neighbors who’d pretty much abandoned him for a few years after they had their first child. He’d had a large tumor on his shoulder that was untreated for a couple of years before we adopted him. I don’t know if this melanoma was related to his intestinal tumor. Little Brother had a good long life for a street kitty, spending many days in our yard and cruising up and down our block before we brought him inside full-time.
Several of the other indoor cats have been tested since Aleksei passed and everyone is negative for FeLV so far (yea!). Everyone will get tested over the next year or sooner during their regular exams.
We're still heartbroken about Aleksei and Little Brother leaving and miss them both dearly. I am thankful they came into our lives though, and feel blessed to have been able to commune with a couple of the sweetest boys we've ever known.
=^..^=
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