Two Weeks After Adopting New Cat, Newlyweds Learn He's Seriously Ill

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My husband and I got married last summer. We had been thinking about getting a cat, so the day after our wedding, we went to our local humane society just to "look."

I had my sights set on a particular cat but my husband noticed a male cat that he liked, so we took the cat into one of the rooms to play with him. We had an instant connection with this sweet boy.

When we were leaving, I picked him up and put him back in his cage, and he literally gave me a hug before I put him back in. When we were walking away, he had this look in his eyes that said, "Don't leave me." Before we left, we filled out an application for adoption.

Two days later, I got a phone call saying that we had been approved to adopt him. We were so excited! We named him Rocky. He gave little hugs, made the cutest noises, and loved to talk and cuddle. Unfortunately, our time with Rocky was very short, a little over two weeks to be exact.

He was sick (which we didn't know) and we had to take him to a specialist. We found out that he had feline leukemia. The humane society had done the feline leukemia test, as well, but theirs came back negative; the specialist said the test can create a false negative.

The only thing to do was a blood transfusion, and that wasn't guaranteed to work and was very expensive. His blood count was so low that they didn't even know how he was still alive. So, we made the tough decision to put him to sleep. It was a very tough situation.

I'm just glad that we were able to give him a home and the love that he deserved in the short time he was in our lives. I'll always miss my little cuddle bug. We have a new adopted kitty now, and her name is Penny. She is a 7 month old Maine Coon and the little light of our lives, but we'll never forget our sweet boy.