Today is Leo Phillips' 1 year anniversary.
He had to be put to sleep after a tumour in his nasal cavity couldn't be held back any longer. My wife lived beside the original owner in a divided house, and Leo would spend a lot of time in her house, only leaving to be fed by his owner! When the owner was moving house, she asked Deb if she wanted to keep Leo, as she didn't want to disrupt his otherwise very pleasant life. Deb was delighted to be asked, as she got quite fond of Leo, and was sad when the news came that her neighbour was moving - because she'll miss Leo.
2 years later, I arrived. He wasn't put out by having 'another man' in the house, we accepted each other's right to be there! Deb had said that Leo wasn't that fond of Male Humans, so I took my time with him and we got to know each other gradually. We became great friends, he would sit on my lap for hours - even cramp wouldn't make me tell him to get down, he was soooo cute. He had his own particular way of lying on my lap. If I had my legs crossed one way, he'd sit there - staring at me - until I crossed them the other way. Sometimes he'd be impatient and bellow a loud meaow, just to make sure I crossed my legs to suit him!
We moved house a couple of years later, too. But only up the road a wee bit. Still within his roaming territory, and he was happy enough. He started to spend more time with us, by choice, and it was a very good period for us at that time. That ended when he started sneezing a lot, with bogeys. He'd often have sneezing 'fits' and we took him to the vet thinking it was just an infection or something. Tests upon tests came unconclusive to the cause. He was treated with antibiotics, steriods, etc and was on daily courses of tablets. The vet was pleased, but still confused, by his progress. He decided to take him off the medication, because he was doing so well.
That's when it came back, but worse. We noticed that his left eye was starting to produde and by the next day it was obvious that there was a lot of pressure behind it. Another trip to the vet, and he was left there for an x-ray. The vet rang us, while Leo was still under, to tell us that our worst fears have come true - and in fact there WAS a tumour growing inside his head. Not cancerous, but still getting bigger - and the positioning of it meant that surgery was totally out of the question.
He kindly offered us to have Leo back for a couple of days, but it was purely ONLY for us to say goodbye, as he'll have to come back in to be put to sleep. As it was officially Deb's cat (he kept the Phillips surname even after we got married), she decided that she couldn't bear that and we allowed the Vet to send Leo to the Bridge there and then. Without further suffering.
That day was exactly 1 year ago today.
We still miss you Leo, you were a tremendous cat. You were intelligent, communicative, affectionate and a great pal to have. We speak to Duncan and Findlay about you a lot, we refer to you as their Uncle Leo and we'll never forget you. Thanks for the memories.
Deb and Mark.
