Despite his weakened condition, he was friendly. But his mouth was nothing but rotted teeth and diseased gums. Dental surgery resulted in loss of 8 teeth. I set up a place in my home office for him ... and slowly be began to recover: eating, putting on pounds, and accepting my grooming him.

It was not long before he shared fully his affectionate nature and overwhelmed me with rubbing, licking, cat kisses, and sitting on my computer keyboard. He was turning into a handsome cat as well. Months went by as he reveled in his new life  of tasty meals, treats, and lots of active play time. What a marvelous metamorphosis.

But about seven months later, he began to look a little lethargic. Blood tests showed a rise in liver enzymes. X-rays showed a lump on his liver but the picture was somewhat indistinct, suggesting fluid in his abdomen. We ordered a sonogram.

Casey, who never complained, lay perfectly still on his back in the padded saddle-like structure used for the test. For an hour the ultrasound technician surveyed his abdomen, doing needle biopsies of the liver and surrounding fluids. Ultimately it showed Casey had not only a mass on his liver but also on his urinary bladder. And his abdomen was full of bloody fluid, the source of which was unknown, but they drained off a large volume to ease the pressure on his internal organs.

The options were for surgery and/or chemotherapy, neither of which seemed appropriate given his age and condition. Their prognosis was four to six months, but looking into the depth of Casey's blue eyes and "psychically" connecting as we always did, I knew they were way off in their calculations. 

With a bag of hypodermics of pain killers, Casey and I went home for his last four days of my constant loving attention. While I was heartbroken that he had died in such a horrible way after an awful life, I was also grateful we had met. I was grateful he had finally had a good, happy, fun time in his life and that I was instrumental in making it so. He had left me with a wonderful gift as I hoped I had left him as well.

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"When you truly communicate with your cat, you embrace your 
cat's inner tiger, and love your relationship and yourself even more."