Leaky-cat

I met Leaky over Memorial Day weekend in 2004.



She was living with some people who didn't want to keep her, and they offered to let me adopt her. They threw in 100 pounds of cat food, a cat carrier, and a bunch of cat litter to get me to take her. I took her home, and we have been best pals ever since.



When I moved to Portland, she was my kitty co-pilot. She was a calm little kitty for the first 11 hours of the 12 hour drive, and was perfectly happy as long as I let her out onto my lap whenever I stopped the car. She started to yowl a little once we hit the city limits, but she adjusted to her new living space quickly.



We've had many adventures over the years, like the time a big snowstorm hit Portland.



Leaky has charmed everyone she's ever met, though she doesn't get along with other cats very well. She's always been happiest with a warm lap to sit on, and somebody to scratch her chin, but she's also content just to be part of whatever you're doing.



Folks probably know that Leaky hasn't been doing so well for the last year. Lately she's been acting really weird about water. She splashes it out of her bowl, attacks ice that falls on the floor, and has been caught licking the bottom of the shower. She's losing her balance, can't hear, she's stopped cleaning herself, and her eyesight is failing. We took her to the vet yesterday to have her checked out, and all her bloodwork came back normal. They want to run x-rays on her, which will cost another $250, and probably won't determine anything. The vet thinks she probably has a tumor under her kitty brain that's making it hard for her to drink water. They didn't really give me a definitive answer about how much time she has left, and though it makes me feel like the worst person in the world, I don't want to pour hundreds of dollars into trying to keep my elderly cat alive. But then I look at her sweet little kitty face, and my heart breaks.



I'm not sure how to proceed at this point, and I feel pretty sick about it. She seems like she's not in pain, but she's also not very happy anymore. Being an adult sure sucks sometimes.