Our beloved rainbow

I've had cats my whole life, all 42 years of them & I have loved them so purely & wholly. But sometimes a special soul just graces our lives in a different way, shows us a different way, a different piece of ourselves, a different corner of our hearts we just didn't know was possible. You were & are the most pure soul I have ever encountered. You loved like nothing bad could ever happen, you trusted like no one would let you fall. I say we were robbed of the 20 years we should have had, but you, my boy, figure it out in just one, and so your journey was done, you left the physical world leaving an indelible etch on our hearts, never to fade or be replaced.

Rainbow was born here in foster care on May 8th, 2022, Mother's Day to be exact. His mama had waited until I was out of the house for longer than usual. Mama Sushi was just 7 months old when she came to us pregnant, too young, unaware. All of her babies died at birth BUT RAINBOW. He was the last, the smallest & mama was unable to nurse as she was full of mastitis. Every 2 to 3 hour bottle syringe feedings ensued, round the clock for 2 weeks as if I had given birth myself. I would syringe feed Rainbow, stimulate for him to learn to go to the bathroom & hold hot compresses on Mama Sushi's abdomen in the hopes we would release the mastitis & she would take over. It was 2 weeks of this. I just slept on the floor of my office with a blanket & pillow so I'd be at their level & ready to help as needed. Rainbow had a will to live, he fought & worked as hard as I did to stay in the physical world & I thought we would have 20 years together like my Ben & I did.

Rainbow spent his 14 months following me around, pouring his love & light into me, showing me purity of heart depth of soul. He would look into my eyes & we understood just how deeply appreciative we were for the other.

A short month after Rainbow's first birthday his energy shifted. He was more tired, less energetic, under the weather, labored breathing & within days we were rushing to a brand new vet to investigate how to bring our Rainbow back to himself. X-rays, blood work, antibiotics all commenced & when none of this worked, we knew we had to dig deeper. 81 ultrasound images later, we had our answer - Terminal cancer, called multicentric lymphoma. Our little Rainbow's lymphatic system was nearly fully blocked. Our prognosis was 3 to 6 months IF he was able to keep an appetite, keep his weight up & stay well. Well he had other plans to get to & we were a short month of subcutaneous fluids, appetite stimulants & slurry feeding before our little Rainbow became fully blocked causing pooling in his abdomen which placed pressure on his lungs causing him to experience labored breathing. When I woke up that day I knew. I counted his breaths per minute & heart beats per minute & we were absolutely in the danger zone. Nothing more could be done for us. We made our last trip to Dr. Hanna together & surrounded by the most amazing, loving & compassionate vet team, we all said goodbye to the little squeaker that no one would knew would inspire giving more life, after the loss of his. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish he would squeal at me one more time demanding cuddles and kisses. But I understand losing his had saved 45 more lives. And we will continue to honour him & his legacy in the worthy lives that land at the Bridge. We are blessed to have been the fortunate souls he chose & he sends us all of the little souls in need of a safe landing place. Once they land at his bridge, they'll only know love, safety & advocacy every day forward. That is his legacy & we will honour him in this way ongoing. ❤️🐾