u/susanbob

On the left is Toast, and on the right is Maple. I got Toast on June 5th, 2025, and she passed away suddenly on November 28th, 2025. One week later, on December 5th, 2025, I got Maple. Today I have had Maple for as long as I had Toast, and it is also exactly 6 months since Toast passed away.

I got Toast on June 5th, and an hour after I brought her home she was curled up in my lap taking a nap. She was my soul cat, we were instantly bonded. She slept next to me in bed every night from the very first day I brought her home. She would sit on the tub ledge while I showered, drool when I got home from work, and always greeted me at the door.

Two weeks after I brought Toast home, she got really sick. She had a reaction to her vaccines and had to spend the night at the emergency vet. At only 3 pounds, she survived a 106° fever. She was my little fighter. After that she did well for a while, she didn’t have another reaction to any vaccines, and her spay went great.

But then on November 26th, she woke up limping. She could hardly put weight on her front leg, and it was swollen. We went back to the emergency vet. I thought maybe she had hurt herself jumping off something, I never expected to leave with an empty carrier.

The vet took X-rays and found her leg was full of fluid. Her blood work was bad, her heart rate was extremely low, and she had a 106° fever again. They believed she had some kind of infection and needed a CT scan to get a better look at what was happening with her leg, but Thanksgiving was the next day and nothing was available until the 28th. By then she was septic. She fought so hard, but the vet said she was suffering at that point.

I was ready to do absolutely anything to save her. I would have ruined my credit for her, I didn’t care. But once they told me she was suffering, I couldn’t let her continue suffering just for the tiny chance she might pull through. I had to make the impossible decision to let her go.

When we were sitting together in the room, she looked up at me, and I swear it felt like she was telling me, “It’s okay. I’m ready.” Toast passed away in my arms on November 28th. She was only 8 months old.

After Toast passed, I couldn’t stand coming home to an empty apartment and seeing all her toys still sitting where she left them. I could barely function that whole week. I decided to get another kitten, even though it filled me with guilt. It felt like I was trying to replace Toast.

I got Maple on December 5th, one week after Toast passed. Maple was only 5 weeks old when I got her (the woman told me she was 8 weeks, but she clearly wasn’t). The first week I brought Maple home, I didn’t really like her. She wasn’t Toast, and all I wanted was Toast. That of course was just my grief of losing Toast, not actually anything again Maple.

Maple quickly stared grow on me, after the first week she was my little shadow and my tiny best friend. She was silly, playful, cuddly, everything I needed during that time. Now I can’t imagine life without her. She truly saved me from a very dark place in my life. Sometimes she does little things that remind me so much of Toast. Part of me likes to think Toast sent her to me because she knew Maple was exactly who I needed.

Maple is truly the light of my life now. I can’t imagine being without her, she is my best friend in the whole world. Maple is about to be 7 months old now and is healthy as can be.

I am so grateful for both of my girls, and I love them both so much.

Beautiful Maple 🧡🍁

Beautiful Maple 🍁

Toast and Maple, my beautiful girls who never got to meet.

Maple loves her new blanket 🍁

Pretty pretty princess