And then... the cancer came back.

No one knows exactly what happened to Kaesea last year, when, after a year-long battle with illness, he decided to start eating again and gain weight. Since then, although we have been grateful, we have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Today, it did.


Although I've been in denial about it, he has been losing weight over the past six months. This week, almost exactly one year to the day since his last vet visit, we took him in for a re-check. He's lost over 2 lbs since that time. He weighs 9.19 lbs now (vs. 11.31 lbs then). Damn.

His doctor was lovely and hopeful that it was anything other than the cancer. Maybe diabetes? Pancreatitis? You know... something that has an easy treatment? But no... today's x-rays confirmed our fears: it's the cancer.


Even though I knew it was coming, it was still a blow. This past year has been truly wonderful. We have had our darling kitty for an extra 2 years that we never thought we would. But now... well, a cat's only got nine lives.

Even Kaesea.

We've decided not to go back to chemo, since it almost killed him last time [warning: that link goes back to all of November 2009, so if you click on it, there's a lot to read. Apparently, I had a lot to say.]

Our plan now is to support him the best we can. At this point, that means B12 injections (Kaesea's great-grandmother swears by her own B12 injections, so it must be good, right?) as well as some kitty pro-biotics which will, hopefully, help with some of the digestion issues.


The good news is that he is still eating on his own, so we'll do our best to keep that up as long as possible. When that stops, we can try an appetite stimulant, but we've struggled with that in the past, so we'll deal with it when that day comes.

In a nutshell, for the rest of his time with us: support, love, and, of course... lots of photos!

Photos like this one -- they shaved Kaesea's belly today for the ultrasound. He's embarrassed and doesn't want to show anyone. Check out this kitty version of the "fig leaf" pose:

(God, I love that cat's fluffy paws.)

We are SO grateful for the time we have had with our darling "miracle" kitty. We feared this day would come and, alas, now it has. Thank you for being here.