During COVID I was forced to leave the US due to a personal matter. I had two cats at the time (Lexa and Snow) who I left with a friend in LA. What was supposed to be a 2 month trip turned into a 16 month one. When I finally got back, I tried to get my cats back. The person I left then with, refused to let me know what happened to them. I was devistated. For months i posted flyers all over Hollywood trying to get some kind of lead. I did get some leads but nothing that went anywhere. Eventually i got contacted by an old roommate asking if I could watch his cat for a few months. I told him I didn’t know if I could since I didn’t know if I would ever find my cats, I told him I would watch Hank but didn’t know if it was long term. When I got Hank he was in rough shape. He had dozens of tangles, they were so bad I actually had to lock him in a closet with me and feed him treats as I cut his hair. Beautiful orange coat, but he was left with all these bald spots after I was done.

Eventually I let him go and he run to hide under the couch. I went to bed thinking it would take a few days for him to open up to me. At 3am I get waken up by him saying hello to me and wanting me to scratch him.

What was supposed to be 2 months babysitting turned into almost 5 years. We were supposed to celebrate 5 years together this coming May. But at the beginning of this month I notice he wasn’t eating as much and coughing. An X-ray showed two growths around his lungs and heart. Couldn’t confirm it was cancer without a CT scan. We decided to see if the tumors would shrink with steroids. Initially we saw improvements. But after 2 weeks we say a rapid decline. Took him back and saw a large fluid buildup around his right lung, causing a lung collapse. We did have the option to drain but with aggressive cancer it would only give him 48 hours of relief. We made the hard decision of putting him down. But not before he had a chance to say goodbye to everyone, and man did Hank have friends……even when he could barely breathe he would get out of his hiding spot and greet every visitor that came to see him. Hank was loved by everyone who met him. Me and my wife held him as he drifted out of consciousness. I have never cried so much in my life. He was an amazing friend….he was part of our family. And now we are expecting our first child in August. He was supposed to be here….he was going to be the big brother to my son. I’m just deviated. I’m happy he’s no longer suffering, but I’m so upset just how quickly things escalated. I took him to the vet the first notice of things being wrong….from end to end it was 20 days.

Cancer sucks….we will always love you Hank. I don’t think I’ll ever have a cat quite like him again. He’s the cat the universe sent me when I really needed a friend. He allowed me to repay my karma by allowing me to save another. Now I need to raise my own son without him….its going to be so hard. I don’t know how we are going to do this, but I’m just happy he’s not suffering anymore.

Thank you for everything Hank! I’ll see you when it’s time. We will always love you Hank! The house feels so quiet without you. I’ll miss you buddy!