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Nov-26 06:19 AM (EST)
This is Sunflower, or as we typically call her "Sunny". As you know back in November of 2005 we lost our dear Maya. A few weeks later we just couldn't bear not having cats in our house and went to a local pet shelter to adopt three kittens. There were a number of things we didn't like about the way the shelter was run, but in the end we had three wonderful cats that we loved--affectionate, playful, and apparently healthy.
It turns out that the shelter let us down in that department too. It turns out that Sunflower, the littlest kitty, the one bearing the name I gave her the day she came home, is infected with Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), and it has entered an advanced stage even though she is only 3 years old. Our cats have never had contact with any strange cats since the shelter, and live entirely indoors--our veterinarian has informed us that Sunny almost certainly came from the shelter with the infection. They went on to say that they have seen over the last couple years increasing numbers of sick cats from that particular shelter and no longer recommend it to people looking to adopt cats.
The shelter was supposed to have tested all of its cats for FeLV, and the tests are very reliable and hard to screw up. But clearly they were remiss with regard to testing Sunny. And now Sunny has been living (infected) in close quarters with our other cats for three years. We've had the other cats tested and miraculously they are negative, so we immediately had them innoculated for the virus.
But poor Sunny is dying. She will not eat, barely drinks at all, and hardly moves. When she does move she staggers badly. She still purrs when I pet her but she is clearly not going to last much longer. I wouldn't be surprised if she dies tonite. Given she is suffering a condition which is essentially incurable, I'll be taking her to the vet tomorrow to release her, barely 3 years old, from her suffering. It's breaking my heart.
Our three kitties have bonded with each other over the years, and are always together, it's going to be very different with Sunny gone. We really fell in love with our trio of cats, and it became quite a ritual to say "kittycats, kittycats, 1, 2, 3" whenever we saw them. Or if we only saw a pair we would say "kittycats, kittycats, 1, 2, where's number 3?" Now there will be no number 3.
My daughter took it very hard when Maya had to be put down. When the kittens came home, she immediately took to Sunny, as Sunny was the littlest kitty. And strangely, Sunny took to Neya, perhaps because Neya was the littlest person. So while the other cats would sleep with Pat and I or follow us around, Sunny would always be found not far from our daughter, sleeping in her bed with her or nearby. If I had to pick the worst cat to lose, Sunny would be the biggest loss.
It's just not fair. 
UPDATE 4:08 PM: It's over. Our little Sunny is gone.
I stayed with her until the end.
