Mittens

A few readers know this already, but a few others don't, so let the sympathy roll in the comments.... Mittens Merrill, adopted by this family in 2012 as the fulfillment of a promise made to Greta that she could have a pet cat when she turned 7, has commenced his slow walk across the Rainbow Bridge. The diagnosis isn't super specific without thousands of more dollars of risky tests, so "GI Lymphoma" is what's on the vet paperwork. He's on a cocktail of steroids to reduce the tumor size, some anti-nausea meds, and maybe an appetite booster, although don't quote me on that. He got an IV during his vet visit when he was first diagnosed, and that perked him up significantly. Seems to have also regained some appetite, but only for soft foods like tuna or canned chicken or last night, a scrambled egg. He was 16 lbs. at his vet visit (down from a high of 21-22 in his Garfield prime), so his cancer may just eat him from the inside until he passes away relatively peacefully from malnutrition. Of course, we're looking for any signs of trauma and have Greta's permission all the way from Africa to limit his suffering if it comes to that. However, every cloud has its silver lining, and in this case it's been a determined decision by Mittens to spend whatever time he has left among his humans. He basically owns the living room now, in full view of Yeager, occasionally mustering the strength to hiss at him, but mostly just relaxing and eating on the couch. Yeager is very appreciative of all the extra food, as he cleans the plate when Mittens has had his fill. So the specter of death brings a detente to our long-running pet feud.