Harley has cancer. This is a huge blow to us since we just lost Simon, six weeks ago. M and I are stunned and feeling broken…

Simon is gone. He died about 1:15 am this morning (the 18th). He was suffering something sudden and debilitating; based on blood tests the doctor said it was almost certainly cancer. He was quite frail already and we didn’t want to put him through any surgery, chemo, etc. Other than being hungry and a little confused, and having doctors poking at him, we don’t believe he was in pain or suffering, but that it was likely to go that direction given much longer.

There’s more to tell but it can be told later. Thank you to all of you who wrote with love and support, including esmerel, thistle_chaser, tersa, agrimony, da_zhuang, ciannait, demariana, waterowl, peragrine, aelfsciene, misty_shadows, and to C and D for hanging with us while we awaited news.

According to the emergency vet, Simon either has intestinal cancer or a (less likely but more hopeful) a massive infection of some kind. We will know more after seeing the regular vet for an ultrasound tomorrow. He’s lost a lot of weight quickly and is pretty much skin and bones. He had been having diarrhea and vomiting for a week or so, though we attributed it to Sophie at first.

Please send positive thoughts for our littlest one.

I created a printed version of this and made a Christmas card out of it for my sweetie.

Something for Mommy A Christmas Story starring Bunny, Sophie, Harley and Simon. (Content is rated S/MA for Sappy and Mildly Amusing)

This is Sophie, Killer of Socks.

She has just bravely killed not one, not two, but four pairs of socks. Not only did she kill them, but she dragged them out of the basket, from the nightstand to the bed, down to the floor, then down the hall to the top of the stairs, where she did the low “mroouw?” that says “I’ve killed something, come and see!!!1”

Note that she did this, and was praised four times, and given snacky treats two of those times. Three of the killed prey were displayed and mrouw’d over at the top of the stairs… the fourth one was dragged all the way down the stairs too!! I think she would have kept right on going, only four was the limit of the socks in the nest laundry basket at the time.*

At this time we are not sure why Sophie got the urge to be a brave killer. She is 17, has some minor mobility issues and can’t jump up on the bed, so we have a little step-stool that she climbs to get to the bed in three steps. The only thing we can figure is that there was a notable lack of food in the bowl at one location (to wit: downstairs, but not in the bowl she walked by at least 4 times to get to the bed :) and that she figured it was her turn (comma damnit) to hunt and provide for the family.

* (Somehow at least three of the killed socks made it back to the laundry basket on the nightstand the next day, and two of these needed killing. Again. Their freshly-killed-again corpses were found on the stairs in various states of brought-down.)

Harley seems to be doing fine, other than a few lost teeth. He has some tartar built up on some teeth – including one large piece that the vet was able to break off with a thumbnail. He also has one tooth that is not really lost but has been covered over by gum and will eventually be re-absorbed back into the body.

The doctor recommended that we should brush his teeth, once a day if we can. We haven’t started that, yet, but we are starting to stroke him on the face to get him used to being touched on/around the mouth.