Farewell, Percy

Percy went through a lot lately. I wrote his story and a happy limerick for him before all his troubles started, which you can find here. Percy and Eliot were cagemates and were adopted together. Percy was the oldest cat of the Cats Stephens and the most picked on. He was on the timid side and would rather hide from the other cats than fight with them. He tore a hole in the fabric under the box springs and made his own kitty hammock inside them. This was a great hiding place and made things rather difficult for his Mom when she had to give him medicine. Percy may not have got on well with the other cats, but he adored his humans and sought out their company for snuggles, naps and petting. Last year he developed a sore lump on his right forepaw and had to go to the vet. Percy really hated going to the vet. She determined that there was a growth there and there were two options. She could go in and get enough tissue for a biopsy, then determine what needed to be done next, or she could remove the whole growth, which might mean removing one of Percy's toes, then biopsy the growth and see if anything else needed to be done. To save Percy as much pain as possible, the family told the vet to remove all of the growth, even the toe if necessary. Once the vet got in, she decided to try to save the toe, but she didn't get all of the growth. The lump turned out to be nerve-sheath sarcoma, which can grow really fast and get very nasty in a hurry. Unfortunately, since she didn't get all of it, this meant that Percy's toe would have to be removed as soon as possible after he healed from the first surgery. Waiting too long might mean that Percy would lose the whole leg. As you can imagine, the family wasn't too happy with the vet and took Percy to another practice for his toe removal. In the meantime, the family decided to move to California, not too far from where Grandma lived. Since Percy would have a long recovery time and the picking on him from the other cats wasn't getting any better, they decided to take Percy along while they looked for a place to move into and leave him with Grandma. Percy loved Grandma and Grandma loved Percy and, best of all from Percy's point of view, she didn't have any other cats. Percy got spoiled rotten at Grandma's and he loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, after a few months of this idyllic existence, Percy got sick. They thought he had a bladder infection, but it turned out to be serious blockage, requiring surgery. Percy's kidneys were showing signs of failure and he just generally was not in good health. Rather than put poor Percy through yet another surgery, which might not buy him a whole lot of time anyway, the family decided that the best thing for Percy was to send him on to the Rainbow Bridge. The whole family is missing Percy terribly.

                                                 Percy loved to lie in the sun.
                                                 He'd hit the nip for a little fun.
                                                          To the Bridge he was sent
                                                          Because his health just went.
                                                 Now he can find plenty of sun.