We adopted Merlin on 9/23/11 as a 10 year old Ragdoll. We’d been looking to rescue senior cats, and Merlin fit the bill, plus, he was obviously drop dead gorgeous. His elderly owner had just fallen deathly ill. Her family dumped the cat, who was clearly adored, at a shelter.

Our time together was short, but he changed my life and helped me cope and heal from PTSD. He was so unbelievably sweet and snuggly and all he wanted to just be near you. He even liked our dog. The shelter gave us two things: A stuffed Squirrel toy and a red brush, saying “He loved them.” He did.

9 months. We thought we had longer.

We took him to the vet after finding him one morning unable to walk, and discovered he had bone cancer so severe that it had eaten his bone. It was so fast, so unexpected. We were devastated, needless to say. We took him home for a week with pain meds, to say goodbye. In that week he was spoiled so rotten. I even finally let him have ice cream and yogurt lol. He loved them both.

Merlin, who loved his brush, cuddling, and vanilla ice cream. We didn’t have long enough, baby. We miss you every single day. You changed my life in 9 months. We love you, Merlin <3 Thank you for everything.

And to everyone reading this: ADOPT. It will change your life, and a special cat’s, too!