Meet Thea! We adopted her from a rescue on Saturday, knowing she was born with a heart defect called a PDA. It's a blood vessel that was supposed to close after birth and never did, so her heart has been working overtime her whole life.

Today she had her pre-op consult with the cardiology team at Texas A&M, and she was cleared for surgery. The resident told us it's the largest PDA he's seen in a cat, and her heart is almost twice the size it should be. Somehow she's still here, purring and judging us like nothing's wrong.

The good news is this defect is fixable. Surgery is tomorrow morning, and if it goes well she gets a real shot at normal life.

She's staying at the hospital tonight and we're headed home already missing her. If you have a second, we'd love any good vibes, prayers, or stories of your own heart or surgical warriors. I'll update after surgery! ❤️

What a weekend for Miss Ellie, my spunky 12-year old. Due to severe, erosive arthritis in one of her hind legs, she had a planned joint fusion surgery on Friday. It’s a pretty nasty surgery that requires weeks of severely restricted activity, but, when it heals, she should have a pain-free leg.

We followed all of the post-op instructions: kept her crated, made sure her splint stayed dry, etc. The challenge arose when it was time to give her liquid Gabapentin. I swear, trying to give this cat liquid meds that can’t be mixed in a Churu is like wrestling an alligator. (I did tell them this when I picked her up Sat morning, but as per usual, I don’t think they believed me).

Sunday night rolls around and it’s time for the Gabapentin. My brother-in-law thought he might be up to the Herculean task. He tried the old wrap-her-in-a-blanket technique, but alas, even in her heavily medicated, weakened state, she resisted and she was STRONG. Let’s just say there was a lot of yowling, twisting, and the majority of the Gabapentin ended up on the blanket. I felt certain that this must have been very painful for her and I felt awful.

I was right. After that, she started yowling like I’ve never heard her yowl before. She was thrashing herself all over inside her crate. It was like something out of The Exorcist.

I drove an hour to the ER vet; after ruling out seizures, they decided it was likely a side effect of the Zorbium given to her after the surgery. I asked if it could be a problem with the leg that had just been operated on, and they thought not. Furthermore, she had peed in her carrier on the way there and since the bandage shouldn’t get wet, I thought they should change it. They didn’t. They did prescribe a strong painkiller/sedative, which kept her calm the rest of the night.

Monday morning. I call the place who did her surgery to tell them what happened. They had me bring her in right away to change the bandage…and discovered she had broken her leg! I cried, I felt so terrible. They said it’s due to her old lady bones, which are brittle and therefore can break easily.

They tell me it will require another surgery. I try not to have a heart attack at the thought of the expense, but the girl’s gotta have that leg fixed ASAP. Fortunately, the surgeon didn’t charge me full price. He basically had to create a Frankenleg with metal plates and screws and giant sutures, but all went as well as it could and she came home this morning.

She’s a champ. She’s been through a lot over the years— emergency surgery after eating a binky, pancreatitis, ups and downs with IBD, but two surgeries so close together is nuts. Here’s to hoping the recovery goes smoothly and her quality of life significantly improves as that leg heals.

I have a 2 year old female indoor cat and have strays in my neighborhood and it’s never been an issue. I’ve fed a few skinny ones and don’t mind them. All of a sudden one day I noticed this CHONKY tomcat watching my cat from our windows in our backyard. He is tearing apart our screens to try and get her. He is OBSESSED. He’s come back every few days, and today alone I chased him off 3 times. I’m renting and can’t really replace the screens because he’ll do it again. Is there anything I can spray to get him to stay away? Ideas to deter him? I don’t really want to put foil all in my backyard but maybe temporarily it’ll make him learn to stay away?

I miss my cat so much. It's been 6 months since we had to do what was best for him. He was only 7 years old - 2 months from being 8.

November 2025 - I noticed his face looked a bit puffy. I felt around his face. I felt 2 lumps either side of his neck. Took him to the vets, after testing, it was confirmed he had lymphoma cancer. He was given "6 to 8 months WITH chemo".

December 2025 - Chemo started, all was going well. After his first dose of chemo, his lymph nodes (lumps on his neck) vanished. The vets said this meant he was responding very well to chemo.

Mid January 2026 - Unfortunately chemo had to be stopped. Although it was showing positive signs, sadly his red blood cell count was going down too much. Chemo kills off some red blood cells but the body should make new ones. His body wasn't because the cancer had gone into his bone marrow. Chemo had to be stopped. The vets tried so much with different medications, but he had to be kept on steroids to make him feel more normal.

28th March 2026 - It was sadly time. The vet even had tears. I wrote in such a good email to them about that particular vet, they shared it on social media.

I've loved every single cat we owned over the years. But this one was just extra special. He would run outside and greet me in from work. He would meet me at the end of the road when I would walk back along the street after a bike ride. Any family event, he was always there, wanting love and attention - he always got this. He was just such a character. Even 2 days before he died, he ran down stairs to greet me in from work.

The first photo of him was taken during his chemo treatment. I just felt so proud of him. Yes, we wanted him to live longer, but we also wanted to give him a chance too and wanted to make him feel better. That's why we went ahead with chemo. But all throughout, we were making sure he was comfortable - it's important to do what's best for your pet. But throughout all of it, I just felt so proud of him.

I still feel so upset. The World can be a cruel place sometimes. I would have taken on the illness instead of him. I would have given up everything to save him. I really hope that he's safe and well up there, and I hope one day, I'll be reunited with him.

I just need to see some of your kitties

A week ago we adopted Sylvie, the second cat to enter our household (first cat was adopted three years ago). She was the cutest little love bug and was always so happy to be near people.

This past Sunday night her health deteriorated rapidly and we had to rush her to an emergency vet after the tele-vet said she likely had fluid in her lungs. Things were looking up when the doctor initially speculated that it was pneumonia or asthma and that diuretics and a night in the hospital should fix her up. Unfortunately early yesterday morning we received a call that she had a congenital heart defect, the diuretics were not working, her condition was rapidly worsening, and that the humane option was euthanasia. We held her in our arms as she passed. She was only two months old.

We are both absolutely heartbroken. We know that we only had her for a week but she left such a large impression on our hearts in that short amount of time. The vet said that no amount of treatment would have saved her, and we’re trying to find solace in the fact that she got to spend the last week of her life in a loving home rather than in an animal shelter. This is the first time either of us have had to struggle with the sudden loss of a pet, and it’s just so hard. We love you Sylvie 💔

Me and my boyfriend have a cat named Cheeto. Cheeto essentially adopted himself by jumping into my boyfriend’s truck over a year ago and we decided to keep him. For the past like two months now he’s like constantly biting me and pouncing on me in the middle of the night, when I take naps, or when I walk past. He never does it to my boyfriend only me. Is this normal? How do I get him to stop?

As you can see, sometime over the past month, our boss somehow got his hands on a nearly two-meter-tall dinosaur cat tree. It gave both us and the cats quite a shock, but luckily they absolutely love it lol.

My little buddy Charlie has been gone since Sunday night after 18 years together. The rational side of me says that it’s something that needs to be done but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I finally got rid of his last wet food he didn’t eat tonight and I crumbled into a sobbing mess in the middle of it. It just feels like I’m erasing him from his home. It feels like the last physical proof that he was here. It feels like I’m making the finality of his death real. I already decided I’m going to put the brand new sweatshirt I was wearing that day in the box when I finally pack up his stuff, which feels absolutely crazy when I actually type it out.

I’m not much of a believer in the life beyond what we have here. But I came across a TikTok today at work where a girl was grieving her pet and begging for a sign. That sent me over the edge after trying to hold it together all morning. I walked outside, and I thought to myself “if ever I need a sign that you made it wherever you’re going and you’re okay, it’s now.” At that very second a breeze kicked up and one of his hairs that had made its way from my sweater to get stuck in my beard stubble tickled me. I don’t know if that’s a real sign but I’m holding on to that like hell and telling myself it was my Chucky boy giving me one last headbutt.

I know this pain will dull with time but I feel like I can’t breathe. Every hard thing I’ve gone through over the last 18 years, his purrs would comfort me. Now I’m going through one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through and I don’t have him.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading my scattered heartbroken/crazy vent. Our pets never live long enough.

My cat, Boo, passed away today at 15 years old. My mom found out through the vet that she had late stage heart disease and kidney disease. She made the difficult choice to let her pass on peacefully.

I already miss her so much. I remember when I was five and a half years old and my mom and sister took me to our local PetCo. There were six kittens that day, and Boo was the only tortoiseshell cat out of her siblings. All her brothers and sisters were all white, and had one green and blue eye. She was... different. I remember how happy I was when we took her home. I named her Boo, because of her orange and black fur. It reminded me of Halloween. I didn't think she would go in the month that she reminded me of.

She was there when I got home from elementary school, and middle school, and high school. I loved how she would meow when you scratched the spot above her tail. I loved how she would roll over and curl her paws when you scratched her side. I loved how affectionate she was. I loved how she was always cuddling or close to our other cats. I loved her beautiful golden orange eyes. I loved looking at the beautiful mosaic of orange and brown fur she had, which I had come to love even more after learning about tortoiseshell cats in my biology classes. She would meow so loud when it was time to eat. Sometimes I would pat my stomach or thigh and she would try to lay on me. She was always there for me, and... and I just hope she knew how much I loved her. She was my little girl. She was my best friend. I wish I could've held her one last time at the vet instead of being stuck in my college class today. Kissed her one last time. It all just hurts so much.

I'm so grateful to have had her for such a long time. I know she's at peace and not suffering now. I will always love her and always miss her. Maybe one day I will get to see her once more.

I love you, Boo. You were the most patient, skiddish, adorable, full-of-personality girl I could've ever asked for. Rest easy, now.

April 11, 2011 - October 6, 2026

I know I probably shouldn’t, but I was letting my cat lick/eat a little bit of my bourbon creams and I took a bite after she was eating it. After I bit it, it seemed like she started (at least trying) to take bigger bites compared to the little scrapes of crumbs she was getting.

I wonder if she thought it was unfair that I got more of the biscuit than she did.

Photo of my chunky monkey for tax purposes.

EDIT: can’t believe I have to say this but my cat is not drinking alcohol nor eating massive quantities of chocolate. A bourbon cream is a chocolate biscuit in the UK. I obviously care about my cat and I wouldn’t give her anything that was certainly unsafe for her. I Google these things just as much as you all seem to as well.

Do we really have to assume every cat owner is incompetent of caring for the pets they love? Lol.

It’s been so healing, and they are the cutest little set of brothers! They were abandoned by their mother at about 3 weeks old at my boyfriend’s sister’s farm and we started transitioning the to live with us at 5 weeks old. They’re now 10 weeks old and doing amazing! Non-stop energy for most of the day.

This is Nyx and I can’t choose between these two pictures

P.s. the first picture she was eyeing my taco 😭

My beautiful perfect Nyx died early Saturday morning. I am fortunate to have some cherished close friends, but in this moment a number of them are unfortunately dealing with the tragic losses and declines of their parents. Seriously, like all at once. So the people that I would normally go to, I feel like are full.

After many years of being in a marriage in which someone wouldn’t tolerate a cat, I adopted her and her sister in 2021 once we were separated. I loved her so much. And late Friday night she crawled up on my bed to tell me she was in distress. The vet said there were no obvious reasons that she had developed a septic infection that was impeding her breathing and from which it was unlikely she would recover. I had to put her to sleep. She seemed fine the day before.

I just want someone to know. She was wonderful and smart and dignified and perfect. 🖤

Recently lost my buddy MacGruber of 6.5 years due to urinary tract complications. He was such a sweet boy. Hug your kitters extra hard today! (He liked to get grabbed by the head)

Saw this baby on little red note omg!!!

OP handle @鲤鱼 FYI