My poor cat :'(

i am so sorry! pets are part of the family and it is horribly upsetting when they are not well. I am glad you found out early so you know how to take care of her and make this last part of her life very comfortable. Hopefully she will be with you for a few more years. I don't think it is weird to want to cry about losing your cat. Take some really awesome photos when you have a chance so you can hang on to those when she is (eventually) gone. I took an awesome shot of my Aunt's dog maggie before we even knew she was sick. after maggie had passed I put it in a nice frame and gave it to my aunt. they have a new dog now but they still have maggie's picture hanging up.
(((HUGS)))

Thanks Heather, well my dad does some professional photography as a hobby he came round tonight to see me and I asked him if he could take some pictures of her. I said to my mum and nan I'm glad we found out early, rather than later or not at all. I've been feeling so guilty before we knew she was ill because she's jumped up on my lap wanting a cuddle but I've been too busy or stressed. Now I know it was her way of wanting some comfort, she must know she's ill!!

But I've been making it up to her with plenty of TLC, head scratches, belly rubs - and even the odd shaved patch tickle!!! They had to shave a lil bit on her neck to be able to get a blood sample, lol I touched it, it feels a bit fuzzy, it's what I imagine them bald cats to feel like.

I'll ask my dad to takes a few good pictures of her, I might get a nice close up one of her and Pop Art her (I <3 pop art) and frame it on my bedroom wall, it would be nice to turn her into a peice of art!!
Thanks again Heather. I think people would of especially thought I was mad to be crying over their cat when they will probably be like, you should be crying over your Granddad... not that that didn't upset me either.

the pop art thing would be really nice! I cried like a baby when my first cat died, like you i had her as a kitten, she old and sick and died around the age your cat is now. that was almost 12 years ago and i still miss that cat! like i said they are part of the family.

Oh no you shouldn't feel bad about being upset over your cat! They're still a part of your family, it's stupid to say that they don't count cause they're not human. They're still your friend. I'd be devastated if my cat dies, and I never see her and every time I do she's horrible to me haha, but I'd still cry like a baby if she got taken from me.

oh, i definitely hear you on this one. my kitty is 15, and i had to leave her to move..... that was hard enough, and then the vet said that she has a tumor! i seriously cried and made my bf come home early from work. i feel so guilty for leaving her since shes so old.... and i had her from a kitten, too; i got her for my 7th bday. She's a cutie.

just keep your fingers crossed and give your kitty cuddles. i wish we could do something about it. <3

message me if you ever need to talk about it, ok?

don't feel bad. i cried a lot when my guinea pig got cancer and died. and i didn';t even like that guinea pig that much-it was kinda...annoying sometimes...i took it as an normal part of life until he got sick. now i have 3 guinea pigs and i don;t appreciate them enough.
cuddle the kitty, and make her life great for as long as possible. it's good you found out this early though i think
stay strong (even if that is a cliché thing to say :p). i wish i could help.
*hugs*

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the support. I'm going to take some lovely pictures of her and turn her into a work of art before shes gone!! I'm also cuddling her a hell of a lot more... it's been lovely, I'm glad I found out early, so that I can spend some quality time with her!!

I've grown up having cats and I think the relationship you develop with them is so special. They have such individual personalities and your relationship doesn't gather the same baggage that human ones can so when you loose them it does just feel like this pure grief. Its hard to explain but when my cat Jake died he was only 3 and died of feline leukaemia. It was really quick how he declined and I was absolutely devastated. He was a massive fluffy white and red tabby - we used to say he had long blond hair and I really struggled with him as a kitten. He had this awful knack of pooing on the things that mattered (like my CDT coursework!! ) but once he got through his really kittenish phase he was absolutely adorable. He used to come and visit in the morning and put his face right up by mine while I was in bed and he had the loudest purr and when I was on school holidays he used to lie at my bedroom door (if it was shut) and stick his paw under it and rattle it till I got up and let him in.
Anyway, sorry about my rambling, the point I was going to make before I took a bit of a detour was that although I was utterly devasted initially that was replaced by all these memories and you don't ever loose them.

I've lost several pets over the years, and it never gets easier. I was 17 when my grandfather died, and 2 years later, when we had to have my border collie, Bandit put to sleep, it wasn't any less heart breaking. I'd had him since I was 4, and he was my BEST friend in the world. I honestly wish my parents had had the guts to have him put down sooner, because he'd had a stroke a few years before, and from there he developed a cyst or something, in his stomach, which pushed a large swollen place out of his side(gradually, it started out about thumb sized). He also developed congestive heart failure. What finally convinced my dad to take him to be put to sleep was when his arthritis got so bad, we had to lift him into a standing position, so he could walk and go to the bathroom. He couldn't pull himself up to stand anymore. We prayed for a long time that he would just go in his sleep, and really he lived much longer than most Border Collies usually do. But I really believe his devotion to us kept him going. Like he didn't think he could desert us, we needed him. At the time that we got him, there were 7 kids at home(well, 6 and one on the way.), and he was never actually trained as a sheep dog, but he had a job---watching over us kids. He went everywhere with my little brother and I, and always kept us safe. He also adopted all the neighborhood kids, and watched over them, too. He was amazing. He only ever learned to sit, and never gave a crap about fetching(believe it or not), but he took really good care of us all. Sort of like Nana in Peter Pan. I don't think another dog like him has been or ever will be born. He was so wonderful. And I still cry sometimes, thinking of how close we were, we could just about read each others' minds. And, no, you're not mad for grieving the upcoming loss of your cat. I cry every I lose a pet. Every time. When Bandit left us, ALL my siblings grieved his loss. We'd all hoped he would be able to have a litter of puppies with the female, Skylar, we got when I was 14, so that a few of us would get to have one of his babies to raise with our own kids, but Skylar is barren. We know this, because Bandit had gajillions of mutt puppies with females in every neighborhood we'd lived in since he matured! But it just wasn't meant to be.
I've also lost cats, several, in fact, that I was deeply emotionally connected to. My Henry was the first one I was so strongly bonded to, and he ended up wandering off(wasn't neutered), a while after he matured. He was born in my bedroom, and his mom went back into heat when he was at weaning age, and rejected him. So I began bonding with him as a second mom, and I could call him from my yard, and he would talk all the way to me, as he ran from wherever he'd been.
So anyway, you aren't alone. We all love our pets as family. It's normal. And your Lolly definitely appreciates you caring for her now that she's ill. She will be thanking you in her own way, for as long as you have her. And, I personally believe, after my body dies, I'll be with my beloved pets again.

Thanks for all the lovely messages. Well we are taking good care of her, giving her the tablets and giving her a low protien diet. We could have her for a few years, but although I'm glad I know because I can spend good quality time with her, it's like there's this time limit ticking over her head all the time.

But she's been coming to sit on my lap a lot more and I'm spending more time with her, rather than pushing her away because I'm too busy.

ohhh, im so glad to hear that. i wish i could spend quality time with my own kitty. v.v i make my mom do it because im too far away, lol. ;)

Yeah it is nice. I think I'm slightly paranoid though because when she's sleeping and I can't see her breathing I have to wake her up JUST to make sure. But yeah I'm definatly spending more time with her. It's nice, it actually relaxes me a bit more than usual.