Goodbye Hoshiko (Scruffy) in The View from the Terrace

The computer is working at the moment but I don’t know how long for. I’m hoping Tony will find time to sort it out this evening.

Hoshiko, our beautiful long haired white cat died in the night at the vets. He would have been 11 in May. He has been ill on and off for a month or two. At first his coat got terribly matted and we thought that was why he seemed so lethargic. It was so bad the vet had to shave most of it off. He looked funny with just his ruff and long hair down the top of his back. He was treated for an ear infection too and seemed to be picking up but he was underweight so we asked the vet to do tests. They tested for everything but could find nothing wrong. The suggested we give it a few weeks to see if he improved.

We were going to take him back yesterday because he was still so thin. Then the night before last I got up to go to the bathroom in the night and he came up the stairs to me and meowed. I just knew there was something bad going on, I can’t explain it, it was like he knew and was telling me. I came downstairs and gave him some milk and he settled.

In the morning he was on the carpet hunched up with his head down and I didn’t like it. Then he got up to go near the fire and he could hardly walk. I told Hubby to take hime to the vet right away, not wait for the appointment later. I could see he was terribly dehydrated even though he was drinking plenty. The vet put him on a drip but they said he was very ill. This morning they rang to tell us he went in the night. Apparently he picked up a bit ate some food then went to sleep and never woke up. Just like our Hoshiko, the last thing he did in this world was eat. He was always a greedy, lazy rather fat cat, that’s why I was so sure he was ill.

The vet now thinks it could have been bone cancer as that it hard to diagnose. He said they couldn’t have done anything even if they had found out. He wasn’t in pain they said.
Now I have to tell my son. Hoshiko was his cat but when he left home he didn’t take him because it didn’t seem fair to expect him to adjust to living in the town, he was a country cat, born in this house.

I’m sitting here looking for photos. I will try to post some later but that depends on the computer.