I uploaded so many other cat photos but I sometimes also want to upload photos of my cat Shyna. You will find one at the bottom. But before that, I also want to use the post to talk about something I heard on the weekend. A friend didn’t answer my WhatsApp messages last week and on the weekend I got a reply that looked like “Sorry that I didn’t reply, I had to put my cat to sleep and this made me feel horrible”. That was sad and I told him that I understand and asked him if he wants to talk about it. He then said that he woke up one morning and his cat couldn’t use his rear legs anymore. They went to the emergency vet right away and they found out that the cat suffers from feline cardiogenic arterial thromboembolus (ATE), with a very bad prognosis. They could have done surgery but the vet said they would have to do it again and again and it wouldn’t be life-quality for the cat, which is why he suggested putting the cat to sleep.

I told my friend that I would have done the same. We’re responsible for our pets, and this sadly also includes decisions like this so that they no longer suffer. At the same time, I told him without exaggeration that his cat had it good. I knew distant acquaintances who wanted cats and then suddenly wanted to sell them again or bring them back to the shelter. But this friend got his cat a little bit after I got Shyna. My cat was born by the end of 2007, so, this must have been around 2008 then. That means, his cat had a good home for 12 years and not just that, he introduced a second cat to his previous cat later on. Even if it’s sad he had to put his cat to sleep, I reminded him that his cat had a good owner and a good place to live and as said, this is not exaggerated.

But as he got his cat around the same time I got mine, the whole news also reminded me of how old my cat already is. She still looks healthy but so did his cat. That’s the issue. Things happen suddenly and then you have to make that decision like he had to do. I hope I don’t have to make the same decision anytime soon. But if that day comes too, it will break my heart. Obviously, I do like my cat but it’s not just that. As I wrote many times on my blog back then, she also played a big role to improve my own health. She helped me fight depression and anxiety disease. I got her at my worst times and it’s no joke when people say that pets have healing powers, especially psychologically. So, my cat is not just a family member but also the lovely creature that I associate with a trend reversal, namely, the end of the downward trend of my health. If the day comes that she isn’t doing well anymore, it will hit me very hard. That’s something that went through my mind this week. Well, here follows the promised photo, she’s looking a bit grumpy in this photo…