One day at a time.

We are still mourning the death of our dear Wookie. Life has thrown us a curveball...we learned this week that one of our cats, Gus, has an inoperable tumor. Prognosis is 6 to 9 months.

Gus is our $10,000 cat. I've written about him before - here. He is 12 years old and for the last 10 years he has been riddled with health problems. Two and a half years ago his tail was removed due to a tumor. They type of tumor he had was very invasive and almost always reoccurs. That is the case with Gus - his tumor has reoccured and because of its location (on what is left of his tail), there is no room for surgical removal. The only option we have it to try and shrink
the tumor so that he can be more comfortable.

In 6 to 9 months, the chemo will not be effective anymore and the tumor will grow, become painful and there will be nothing left to do about it. As you can imagine, this is the worst news. I have now started to have the same conversations with Gus that I had with Wookie. We talk about heaven and about how he needs to tell me when its time. Mostly I tell him that when he wants to go, he needs to just go - Wookie is waiting for him. Gus and Wookie are old friends and have always gotten along.

Gus has been my best friend for 11 years. I got him from a shelter in New Jersey. I was living alone and I had to put my cat Bobo to sleep and it just about killed me. My house was so quiet and lonely that I knew I needed to get another pet. I found Gus. He had been in the shelter for 9 months and his chances were running out. The first time I held him, he rubbed his face on my nose. Then when I sat down, he curled up on my lap and went to sleep. It was love at first sight.

For a while, it was just me and Gus. We moved from New Jersey to Oregon, all by ourselves. I made the drive and Gus rode shotgun. We had a great trip, he was the best passengar. He has always liked to ride in the car.

When we moved in with Trevor, Gus was immediately at home. After a few months he realized that Trevor generated more heat than me and he began to sleep on Trevor's head. He has slept on our pillows for the last 10 years. He has seen many additions to our family and has tolerated ever one of them. He has had many medical problems - 10 years ago he had a blood disease and I had to feed him with a syringe. Our vet has always told us how lucky Gus was that we are his parents. There have been times that I thought he wouldn't make it, but he always has. A part of me hopes that is the case with this, but deep down, I know its not. I know his time is coming to an end and while I am incredibly sad about that, I am also grateful that I have been able to love him all these years.

Things are crazy and hectic with us right now - between the businesses, training, coaching and the animals. I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water. The vet told us to take one day at a time. I feel like that is what we've been doing for the last two months...one day at a time.

So we take joy in the little things, remind ourselves to remember every moment that we can and depend on the strength in each other to see this through to the end. Never before has a cat been loved more...