Austin beautiful

I recently found out that my cat Austin has a mass in his belly. At first I just thought he was getting fat, but it was just not looking right. I took him in to the Pet Vet on Patton to have him checked out. My worried feelings became justified as she pulled almost a liter of fluid off of his belly and then was able to palpate a mass.

The sad part. My wonderful, sweet, affectionate, dog-loving, not really cat acting cat has cancer. He is too young I think, only a wee 12 1/2 years old, which is really not very old for a cat. I am tired of losing my pets before their time. I take such good care of my animals, feeding them the best food, cleaning their teeth, practicing preventative medicine, and yet I still can't manage to keep an animal until it is "old". I look for the day that I "wish" my animal would go ahead and die already. When they are old, blind, crotchety, deaf, arthritic, peeing and pooping on themselves.....But then again, that has all it's own heartache and trouble. I guess sometimes it is nice to only remember your animal as a healthy, happy, totally senile being even if their life is cut a little too short. There is no easy way to lose an animal. 

The beautiful part. Animals don't know that they are sick. Austin has no idea that he has cancer and so has no sadness, no depression, no feeling sorry for himself. He is still acting like the same ol wonderful cat Austin. He is still eating, drinking, and being merry. He can live his life in the moment and enjoy each minute because he has no look into the future. If this were a human being that just found out they had cancer there would be so much emotional turmoil, life itself would change for them. But for a cat, he feels no different today than he did yesterday. Beautiful.

Austin, you are a beautiful cat.