Oreo-goo- the self-styled "Greatest Cat in the Multiverse" from my profile description:
Born-1998 (?) Found as a stray by me and Hot_townPhilly (my wife) in late 2000. We lived in an apartment at that time-and fed him "on-the-sly." Rescued by my wife from a near-death experience (was locked in a crawl-space-type area in the complex). Eventually, apartment managers circulated a notice saying feeding strays was prohibited. Proceeded to feed him even more stealthily- then one day discovered that he was front-declawed.
"Formal" adoption followed shortly thereafter.
To me, no more grateful, generous, caring, loving cat ever drew breath. This spirit has always endured, even though The Great One had a litany of health problems throughout the bulk of his life. First, there were the cataracts (partially corrective operation performed by a Veterinary Opthamologist). Then, there were the frequent upper respiratory flare-ups (the leading theory was that he was a feline herpetic), then hypertension and renal insufficiency. (The last was somewhat mitigated by weekly fluid supplementation therapy.) Finally, late last year, he was diagnosed with multiple-site liver cancer with spleen metastasis. He has been on "hospice-care" (so to speak) since that time. We judged that there were too many neoplasms for radiation to be an option, and the kidney problems made him a poor candidate for chemotherapy. This weekend, the visible symptoms have mushroomed to the point that it's clear his quality-of-life has deteriorated to the extent that we expect to see him off to the gate of the 'Rainbow Bridge' tomorrow.
Oreo will be survived by your humble dilettante, the at least equally remorseful heroine-of-the-story Hot_townPhilly, and an affable 18-year-old adoptive brother, "Pumpkin."
Man, I hope that the man in the hooded cloak and the scythe
will leave us alone for a while, after this one...
ray: