Safe travels, Winnie (14) ♥️🌈
I’d like to share my cat Winter (AKA Winnie, Weenie, Queenie, Fudge Stripe, and Winston J Pettigrew the Third) with this community. I wish I had done so sooner and under better circumstances.
Winnie was born in my FIL's backyard, and we adopted her when she was around 6-7 weeks old. She was part of a lot of wonderful transitions in our lives and brought immense joy to our household.
She was the first being I'd go to when I'd come home and I'd track her down throughout the day to play with her and snuggle with her (I loved huffing her fur, she smelled like a stuffed animal). She'd call for my attention and I'd always answer, and she had her favorite places to sleep and would bask in any sunny spot she could find, and she loved when I built her blanket forts for her. She was a wonderful companion. She would have turned 15 next month.
A few weeks ago, we brought her to the vet thinking it was something minor, and instead found out that she had aggressive intestinal lymphoma. Winnie deteriorated very quickly and she let us know she was ready to go. We helped her pass peacefully at home in the place she loved most, with her people. Her physical absence is heartbreaking, and I look for her everywhere. I know her spirit lives on. We are left with a large hole now that she's gone.
I have always been a lurker on this subreddit, occasionally leaving likes on adorable seniors and comments on equally lovely cats who have passed. I don't know why I started doing that, but I think somewhere deep inside I knew I'd have to deal with the same thing eventually. I want to thank the people of this subreddit community for helping me build the courage to help my own cat pass peacefully when it was her time.
Safe travels, my sweet lady Winnie. I’ll find you in every warm patch of sunlight. Paraphrasing from much wiser people than me: I am sad that you are leaving, but I am so happy that you were here. You will always be in my heart, buddy.