u/lazyaccountname1

I adopted my cat in 2020, just a couple months after Covid started. I was furloughed from work at the time and really wanted some company at home. I'd never owned a cat before, but was just becoming curious to the idea, so I went to my local shelter just to meet the kitties and see if they liked me.

There were tons of cute cats there, but eventually I met eyes with one who was quietly loafed in her crate on a higher shelf. She looked angry and disinterested, but I stuck my hand near her and she rubbed her head on it. I fell in love immediately and adopted her minutes later.

The shelter told me she was between 6 months and 2 years old. A family had dropped her off there when they moved and "didn't want to take her". At her first vet appointment a couple weeks later, the vet confirmed an age of between 1 and 2 years.

It's been a little over 6 years since then and my girl has become one of the highlights of my life. Moved in with my now-fiance and her dog, who are both loved very much by my cat.

Recently, my cat had an ear infection so I scheduled a visit at a new vet clinic closer to our newer home. They wanted to run some blood work since she is a new patient, so we got the full panel. A couple concerns came up on that screening, so we scheduled for an x-ray, which happened today.

The vet showed me that my cat has lived with very old injuries (broken ribs, one of which never fused back together) and scar tissue surrounding them all. The x-ray showed that between that, and her bone/muscle density, the cat that I assumed was 7-8 years old is actually more like 18-19 years old.

My cat, up until we moved to this new place ~8 months ago, was still playing like a young cat. She would bat at my hands when I tapped on the floor near her, chase lasers up the wall, and get the zoomies after smelling some catnip. She showed no signs of slowing down. Her lack of playing at this new house was just something I attributed to how much more natural light she could bathe in, and her obvious love of napping in the sunlight. I just figured she was in a Zen place finally.

My world has changed so completely within a day. I started today hoping that the best case scenario would be some light medicines to treat some normal conditions, and was fine with doing that for another 10+ years if it meant I still had my cat by my side (or on my lap, napping). But now I'm not even sure how long she'll have left with us.

I just want her to feel happy and comfortable. I want her to have the best remainder of her life. And I hope that I've been able to give her the best senior years she ever could've hoped for. It's just so difficult knowing that I won't feel her purring on my lap way sooner than I ever expected.

This wasn't meant to be this long of a post. Sorry.