08/05/2025
It is with an absolutely broken heart that I am letting you all know that I lost the most amazing little creature that I was lucky enough to share my life with for almost 11 years.
Ch. Caterans Desert Storm of Sunbeam.
"Ava"
For any of you who came to my house and met my cats and picked up your kittens or just came and met my cats I would absolutely love if you would share your impressions of the little cream cat that was mine when you came. She usually left an impression.
Ava was my first person. I had wanted her for about 10 years, since I was vet tech and met my first one and fell in love. You see I am a hard core dog person, it's what I do. I have been training dogs since I was 13. The only time I stopped training dogs hard core was to raise my kids. So for me to fall for a cat was crazy. But I did.
My husband was totally against her coming but fell in love with her quickly. My whole family did. She became the spoiled rotten princess quickly but it was fine, I adored her.
If you ever came to my house it became clear pretty quickly that Ava ran my house, even the dogs. This tiny little 6 and a half pound cat threw herself into a dog fight because it made her mad that it was happening in her house unauthorized!! I had to pull her out by her tail because it was the only thing I could see. 🤣
And yet this same cat knew immediately as soon as I would walk through the door if I was hurting or sick. She would head straight for the bed and my husband would look at me and ask what was wrong. He trusted that cat more as a barometer to how I was feeling than my answers lol.
I had lost my heart dog/ESA in 2007 and had not been able to bond with any other animals since his death due to being so heartbroken. She came to me in 2015 and it wasn't until she was a couple of years old that my husband pointed out that she had snuck her way in to my heart and had become my heart animal. I was actually devastated because I knew this day was waiting for me. The day I had to let her go. The day my heart would break setting her free.
This is the price we pay getting to have these amazing creatures in our lives. She gave me everything for almost 11 years, this is a small price.
I was the lucky one.
For those who want to know what happened. She had a nasal tumor. By the time these are diagnosed you rarely have enough time to treat which is what happened. What I will say is this, if you have an older cat that suddenly starts having massive drainage from their nose and they have never had a history of that, do not waste time on antibiotics, go straight to CT. I might have had enough time to save her without doing that.
