On April 24, 2026, my mother-in-law’s cat, Hannah, was put to sleep at the vet due to cancer. The vet said it had gone to her brain. She had also been spitting up blood and had been having a hard time breathing. My husband took the cat alone to our vet, and stayed with her until the end. He said she purred and then fell asleep and was gone. He stayed until she passed away around 5:15PM.
Hannah was about 22 years old, as they guessed. Only God knows how old she really was. The adoption person in Georgia said Hannah was probably born around 2004. When they rescued her, she was probably 2-4 years old and might have already given birth, though they never found her kittens.
Back to the present, as soon as my husband texted the family group chat, I was so sad that I cried until my head hurt. I had to get off the treadmill. Even though Hannah wasn’t my cat, I still felt sad.
I didn’t realize until today that God gave me an extra blessing this week. Usually when I take my MIL to the doctor, I pick her up and drop her off and don’t go upstairs to her apartment, except when we go to the eye doctor at intervals for her special treatment. After the doctor’s visit, I have to administer eye drops. So I go upstairs with her. I would wash her cat’s food and water bowls and feed her canned food. Then I go home. This week, the eye doctor wanted to see MIL twice. So I went upstairs to her apartment on Tuesday and Thursday. Little did I know that those would be the last times I ever saw Hannah alive.
Back in February of this year when she was spitting up blood and had lost a lot of weight, my husband didn’t have time to take her to the vet, so I had to. I took MIL and the cat to the nearest vet, eight minutes away from MIL, because I didn’t want the cat to suffer a long car ride to our vet which is at least 20 minutes away (over 40 minutes round trip in traffic). First time we went, the vet said that Hannah was malnourished and had some internal issues so they gave her medicine. He also said she was partially blind? But she could move around in her apartment without any issue. After we left the vet, I recommended canned food (that my own cat eats). She gained weight over the weeks, as required. Second trip to the vet, he said she had gained weight nicely, but still anemic. He didn’t recommend other tests which would be more costly. But he reminded us that the cat was 22YO and thereby very old. He was preparing us for the eventuality.
Which came today. I am still sad as I write this. Even though Hannah never sat on my lap ever in the 12 years since MIL adopted her after my father-in-law died, she had rubbed against my legs every now and then, came to me for food numerous times, and sat by me on the couch all of one time in Georgia. I have fed her and cleaned out her litter box many times. She was short (compared to my cat) and cute and had bright green eyes until this year when her eyes seemed occluded.
My husband said some day it would be Literary Cat’s turn. George is already 14YO so I don’t know how long he will live. It makes me sad to think he will also some day go. Husband said that he believes they will be in heaven with us. I don’t recall any Bible verses that said our pets go to heaven, but I would like that. I still miss my dogs, two Great Danes and one Black Lab named Henry. I miss Henry a lot and always get teary eyed when I think of him.