A Story of a Man and His Cat

I found him in the forest outside the city. It was 2010, we were walking there and found him accidentally. He was beaten nearly to death, his leg was broken, and his face was covered in dirt and blood. I was a schoolboy, and at first, I thought I could help him by bringing some food. The next day we visited him, the food hadn't been touched, and he was still in bad shape but alive. So I decided to take him home.

And here's how our long story begins.

We cured him, and he became part of our three-cat family. Everything was fine for the next couple of years. But then he got sick. It turned out that he had weak kidneys and needed to follow a special diet. We didn't know this at first, so he had several flare-ups and had to undergo several surgeries over a couple of years. At one point, he became so ill that the doctor even recommended euthanasia. We didn't agree and asked to keep trying. And it worked out. Since that time, my cat has lived for about 10 more years.

The next years were pretty regular. I grew up and started living on my own with my wife. We lived in three different countries, and our cat, Vasya was his name, traveled with us the whole time. Sometimes he had flare-ups of his kidney problems, but most of the time he was fine, and no surgeries were needed. He had a special diet, and we were pretty serious about that.

He was a pretty positive, lovely creature. I called him my sunny cat. He was very talkative, much more than you would expect! He had different tones for different emotions and always answered when you talked to him. Polite, well-mannered. He loved his toys and the space couch I bought him. 

He was a cat with the heart of a dog, devoted, he loved us (mostly me), and we loved him. I could describe more of his personality traits, but that would take much more space.

But I always worried about him. His story, full of dangers and medical problems, and his age sometimes made me feel like death was always watching him. So this is what this picture about. 

Last week he stopped eating, became sad, and distanced himself from us. We thought he had stomach problems. Oh dear, how wrong we were. We visited five clinics and did bunch of tests. It was cancer. And the worst kind. We learned this when we had to remove his spleen, where it all started. The metastasis had spread to several organs and the abdomen. We thought, we tried to fight it, but within three days it only got worse. He survived the surgery but had a clinical death. I understood that he wouldn't survive further chemotherapy. So I had to make the toughest decision.

Last Saturday, he passed away.

Vasya. My friend. Cheerful creature. We were together for 14 years. I cannot believe it's all over. I miss you so much. I hope one day we meet again.

2010 – August 3, 2024

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A couple of days later, my wife had a dream. She got a call from the doctors, and they said Vasya was better now, so they were moving him out of the intensive therapy department. Vasya is better now.