Oscar by Hoener Family / Your rescue family

We found Oscar, or rather Oscar found us at some point last spring. My daughter said she first noticed Oscar picking through our garbage can for food, hence the name Oscar. we didn’t know at the time that Oscar was female and by the time we found out for sure, the name kinda stuck. She seemed in good condition and kept herself very clean for a street cat so we thought maybe she belonged to someone and the posters went up around the neighborhood. No one replied. I had a blind, elderly dog, so Oscar became our outside cat. We would feed and pet her when she came around and sometimes we wouldn’t see her for days at a time. Then one cold, rainy night in November, I went out to the back to have a cigarette and there was Oscar. She was cold and wet, shivering and hungry. We took her into the hallway, found and old box, an old but clean blanket, made her a bed and gave her some food.

Soon the snow began to fly, Oscar went out less and less, so we bought her a litter box and other kitty essentials and figured out a way to keep the cat and dog separated as best we could. We took Oscar to the vet and found out some really sad news. She was diagnosed with Feline Aids(FELV)/leukemia. Based on the examination, the vet estimated that Oscar was about 3 years old or so and was most likely born to the disease from a mother who had it as well. If we were going to continue to care for Oscar, she would have to remain as only in indoor cat, become our cat full time. And so it was.

My daughter has a really beautiful singing voice and whenever she would sing, Oscar would jump into her lap for a closer listen. her favorite seemed to be Blue skies(smiling at me) We managed to spend equal time pampering both bets, keeping them happy and giving them love, in turn, trust me, we felt their love as well.
Unfortunately, Freckles passed away on June 6. She lived a full and happy life.

I miss her ridiculously. I go to pet her and she’s not there. My heart seems empty. Sadly, in the past week or so, Oscar’s health took a turn for the worse. She no longer wanted to play or even be bothered with anyone. She took to hiding behind the couch or under my daughter’s bed. her appetite decreased and she became more lethargic.

I knew a vet appointment needed to be made soon. then last Sunday(6/28) my husband was trying to coax her out from under the bed with a bit of food, when she came out, we noticed she was bleeding from the nose/mouth. We immediately called the vet and brought her in. I held her paw through the holes in the carrier box all the way to the vets office. They took one look at her and knew she was in bad shape.

The leukemia had progressed so rapidly and she had a plum sized tumor in her abdomen that had not been discovered during her last visit. The vet strongly felt that she would not even make it through the night and suggested we think about humane euthanasia.This cat had had a rough enough time of it at such a young age, there was no need for her to suffer any longer. We agreed with the vet and held her paw and pet her in her favorite places as we told her how happy we were that she came into our lives. We hope that we brought her some happiness and perhaps, by taking her in, lengthened her life and lightened her load. Oscar, rest in peace, sweet kitty and look around- Blue skies are smiling at you.! We miss you.

 

With Love,
Oscar
Hoener Family