06/22/2026
There are some cats who come through our doors, stay for a short while, and move on to their next chapter.
And then there are cats like Stella.
Stella has been part of the HAPI family since 2023. He and his brother, Mouse, came into the shelter after their owner was incarcerated. They waited patiently for their family to reclaim them, but that day never came.
Because they were a bonded senior pair with medical conditions, finding placement was incredibly difficult. They spent nearly a year in foster care while we searched for the perfect home. When we moved into our clinic building in March of 2024, we finally had a safe place where they could stay together and live out their lives surrounded by people who loved them.
When Stella first arrived, we were told he and Mouse were a male/female bonded pair.
For well over a year, we believed that.
Then one day, Stella very graciously showed us HIS backside and revealed the truth.
Stella was not, in fact, a little old lady.
Stella was a little old man.
And let me tell you, that was a strange feeling of betrayal.
Our sweet old lady had been our sweet old man all along.
But no matter what we called him, Stella remained exactly who he had always been: gentle, loving, and impossible not to adore.
Both Stella and Mouse have feline leukemia, and we knew from the beginning that our time with them would likely be shorter than we wished. Still, nothing could have prepared us for how quickly things changed.
Just a few short weeks ago, Stella began declining rapidly. Bloodwork showed something was wrong. Soon after, he became jaundiced, and an ultrasound revealed a mass on his liver. The internist suspected cancer, but because Stella was already so fragile, we made the difficult decision not to pursue surgery or a biopsy. We were terrified we would lose him under anesthesia before we ever had answers.
Instead, we chose comfort.
We chose quality of life.
We chose to spend whatever time we had left simply loving him.
In his final weeks, Stella made it very clear what he wanted. He no longer wanted to move around much, and he decided his favorite place to be was on a pallet in the middle of our clinic lobby.
And if Stella wanted a pallet in the middle of the lobby, then a pallet in the middle of the lobby is exactly what Stella got.
For weeks, that little pallet became his throne. Staff, volunteers, and visitors stepped around it. We spent countless hours stretched out beside him, cuddling him, petting him, talking to him, and soaking up every moment we had left. We gave him every bit of extra love and attention we could because we knew our time together was growing short.
Looking back now, those quiet moments on the floor beside him are gifts we will cherish forever.
Supportive care and steroids gave us a few precious extra weeks. Weeks filled with extra cuddles, extra kisses, and extra reminders of just how special he was. We are so grateful for that time, even though it will never feel like enough.
Today, with shattered hearts, we will help Stella make his journey to the Rainbow Bridge.
To say our team is devastated would be an understatement.
We are grieving the loss of a cat who became part of our everyday lives, part of our routines, and part of our family. But our hearts are also breaking for Mouse, who has never known life without his partner in crime by his side.
The kindest thing we can do for Stella today is also the hardest thing for us.
Please keep our team in your thoughts as we say goodbye to a cat we loved dearly and help him find peace.
Thank you for choosing us, Stella.
Thank you for trusting us.
Thank you for every purr, every cuddle, every laugh, and even for the great gender reveal of 2025.
You were deeply loved, and you will be deeply missed.
Run free, sweet boy. Until we meet again. ๐๐พ๐
We do still have a large outstanding balance for Stella's previous diagnostic and end-of-life care. If you would like to help ease the financial burden for us at this time, it would be greatly appreciated.
PayPal: paypal.me/hopeforallpetsinc
Venmo: hapiky
