Fate. That is what brought this angel in to our lives. She was found after a severe storm by a friend of a friend. Once I saw she was black and white I had to have. Amazingly, my husband immediately said he would go get her. That night he picked her up. She was the most beautiful kitten I had ever seen. We kept her separate from our other kitties until we could get her to the vet. Luckily, she had a healthy appetite and seemed to already to be litter trained. Her first vet visit came, and we hit brick wall. She was very sick. One of her valves wasn’t working properly and it was causing one side of her heart to enlarge. My husband jumped into protective mode and got the vet to get us a cardiology appointment. My husband rushed her into to Austin to see the specialist. The news was not good. They said she could pass away any day or if we were lucky she would possibly make it to the age of 1 or 2 but it didn’t look good. We opted to get her medications to see what kind of like we could provide her. One of the effects of her disease is liquid caused her belly to swell. The vet took the liquid off and we got meds. Her daddy gave her the meds religiously. She still acted as though she was a kitten. Our little bad@as ruled the house even though she was tiny compared to our other cats. Sadly, we noticed with each day she slept more and more. Again, her belly swelled but we knew that it would need to be drained occasionally but as she got worse the time between each draining would grow shorter and shorter. Her last vet appointment they took 300ml out of her abdomen area. Then within two days she started gaining her pouch back. After seeing her sleep most of the day and playing very little we figured it was best to put her down to save her from dying a painful death. Her last appointment they said blood was starting to drain into her abdomen which meant there was an infection. My husband and I spoke at long length about putting her down. The days before she started getting more active but still her tummy grew. Finally, on Friday we noticed she was having so many issues getting off her belly. But, she still had her huge attitude of fierceness and cuteness. She had my husband and I around her paw but the best thing was she had bonded with me. I very much loved having a little shadow and a co-worker that was so cute while I worked and would walk across the keyboard so my group knew she was there. I knew Saturday we would put her down so I stayed up as late as I could to just hold her and snuggle. I woke up and she had spent the morning with my husband. I hated to still be tired but I had to rest. My husband said she crawled into the bed and slept with me the whole time. When I got up, we gave her the one treat we denied her, milk. She cleaned the bowl and went to lay down. It was time to take her to the vet and though my heart was breaking I knew it was best for her and not me. She was the most important thing to consider in our decision regardless of our pain she was what mattered the most. We said our goodbyes and she went to sleep. It was peaceful and for once I knew she didn’t have to struggle. She is free to play as long as she wishes now. Till we meet again, Leija, Mom and dad love you so much. Know that we did everything we could to save you. I don’t know how your life started or how you came to be alone outside, you passed as a beloved member of our family. Till we meet again.