They don’t judge us. They are almost always a source of unconditional love from them to us. They are part of the family that bring us joy each day. They are there for us when humans cannot be.

As you may have read our 11 year old kitty Vee Jay has taken a turn for the worse. We were told by our great vet that she had five months to live. That was over a year ago in August 2017.

On Saturday we discovered that Vee Jay’s bladder cancer had spread to her lungs. While she, on the outside seems fine, she has stopped eating. She does not seem to be in pain, other than struggles in the cat box. Not good.

Today our vet recommended we give her a hunger stimulant to help her eat. If that doesn’t work then we will soon have the awful decision that all pet owners must make. It has been hell.

In the last 24 hours she has resumed some of her normal habits like sleeping on our bed and reacting to us when we speak to her. It’s almost like she’s saying, “I’m a black cat, let’s take this to at least Halloween please.”

Vee Jay, she has given us bonus time and keeps fighting. My wife Heidi has shown amazing strength in taking care of Vee Jay every day. Heidi’s love for Vee Jay has saved her. But if you ask Heidi, she would say “It’s the other way around, Vee Jay saves me, each day.”

If God, Nature, the Universe, what ever we label the energy that is bigger than us, came to me and said, we can erase this, wipe your memory and the pain would be gone. But with a price: you’d have NO memory of Vee Jay, as if she never came into your life. Just say “yes” and it’s gone.

I’d say “no.”

• JayBeau