RIP Tippy

Tippy
Approximately 1996 - July 30th 2012
This a very hard post for me to write and it has been an even harder day. My cat Tippy passed away this morning. She was diagnosed with mouth cancer a few weeks ago, and has slowly been declining each day.

The poor girl began walking in circles - which they now believe means the cancer had spread to her brain, not using the litter box, etc. She kept eating and didn't seem to be in pain (she was on 2 medications, however). The last 4 days, though, it kept getting a lot worse. She was very wobbly when she walked, and was hardly eating anything. I have been mixing her cat food with water for the last few months and she never lost her apatite at all, until now.

I held her this morning for about an hour. She just laid her head against my chest and went to sleep, purring as usual.

I've considered calling the vet twice in the last couple days and couldn't. Today, however, I knew it was time. I felt like now she was beginning to suffer and her quality of life was no longer there.

I petted her head as she went, which took all of about 5 seconds, in the vet's office. She was purring right up until the moment she passed.

The vet advised we could take her home for 24 hours if we wanted to, which I did. But, I knew that if I took her home today there's no way I would be able to bring her back in again.

She had only been with us the last 5 months as she was always an outside cat at my parents. When my mom passed away in January, I offered to take her because my dad didn't want to look after her. She was always very timid around anyone but me, and she was given medicine that she needed to receive daily. So, I didn't have a choice but to take her home and I'm glad I did. The last 5 months have been a lot of work - between trips to the vet's office and medications twice daily, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I was able to give her 5 more months that she wouldn't have had otherwise.

And, she had a pretty good life. She lived to be at least 16 years old, as an outdoor cat. She will definitely be missed around here, and definitely made an impression in the 5 months I looked after her.