Rosie went to pussy heaven because she had mammary cancer, which eventually spread, to her lymph glands. I would urge anyone reading this to regularly check your cat for lumps and bumps and have the lumps tested, even if the vet says they don't look cancerous. This is what happened to me. In 1996 I found a lump by her nipple. The vet took away the lump, said it didn't look cancerous and that she had been lucky. They never tested the lump. In 1999 it returned, I was with a different vet and asked them to test the lump. They said it didn't look cancerous but tested it upon my instructions. Unfortunately it was cancerous, so if you love your cat as much as I loved Rosie ask for every lump to be tested.

Rosie had a full mastectomy on one side of her body to try to stop the cancer returning. She was so brave and never got stroppy once, she was the ideal patient. I looked after her, cleaned her, fed her, and held her bowl up for her. She started to get water retention under the operation scar, this meant weekly visits to the vets to have the excess water drained away from the wound and she never complained once. She was just glad mummy was there with her. Unfortunately, later that year another lump was found, my vet tested her lymph glands and the cancer had spread there so all I could do now was make whatever time she had left with me as happy and comfortable as possible.

When we got a Labrador puppy that we named 'Poppy' we were worried how she would integrate with all our cats

These photos shows just how well they got on, they shared the feeding station.