R.I.P. Luca

My best friend Anneke had to face the hardest task any animal lover can ever think of – she had to have Luca, one of her friendly ferals that she had looked after on her patio for about 4 years, put to sleep yesterday.

He had a malignant, progressive and incurable cancer of the nose and the tissue was already half eaten away, and there was nothing more our vets could do, and it was the kindest thing to let him go. He held on though, his little heart wouldn´t stop beating, and our vet Vanessa had to inject him into the heart in the end. It´s just so unbelievably sad, and I´m sending my most heartfelt hugs again to Anneke as I write this, once again in tears.

Luca was a very gentle soul, never demanding, always shy and sweet, and over the years, Anneke´s TLC turned him from being totally feral into a mellow kitty that we could even pet a little, and he returned this affection with a little head bump each time. As sad as his death may be, we like to think that for a feral he had a good life, his own bed and shelter, food every day and lots of TLC, whether he wanted the latter or not, plus in the later stages of his cancer, Anneke also got him the veterinary care that he needed, even though we knew that this kind of cancer was eventually going to end up “worst case scenario”.

Rest in peace, little guy. You´ll be always in our hearts.

Pic of Luca chilling on the roof, before the cancer ate away his nose.