When a stray cat broke into a family home in El Paso, Texas, they didn’t hesitate to put a roof over his head. But then, after settling in and becoming, and an official member of the family, tragedy struck, leaving a void that can never be filled.
In a viral TikTok post shared in January under the username @wedonotownacat, his owner explains that one day she came home and randomly found the then-stranger cat sleeping on her couch like it was his own.
“We figured he had come in through our doggie door. We have three dogs, mind you!!” she explains in the clip. “We let him come and go as he pleased. He prob (probably) belonged to someone. He’d visit every day. Finally, he started coming inside and staying longer. We checked for a chip and a family… He had no one.
“Pretty soon, he comfortably started doing cat things. He started getting really spoiled… And if you’re wondering… Yes… I am in love… I fell in love.”
Of course, they let him stay and made him an official member of their family. Life seemed idyllic for the cat, who they named Prince Jack, until something unexpected happened in October of 2024 that changed everything.
The poster, Donna Munoz, told Newsweek that at that time, the feline suddenly stopped eating, and after a visit to the vet, he was diagnosed with stomatitis.
Grief is a companion now #griefjourney #storytime #catsoftiktok #onthisday #fyp #fypシ #fypage
Dr. Stacie Grannum explains in an article shared by Catster, that stomatitis is a painful inflammation of the mouth affecting up to 10 percent of cats, which involves the gums, tongue, mucous membranes of the oral cavity, and in some cases, the back of the throat.
Its causes are unknown, however, Grannum suggests it could be an underlying abnormality in the cat’s immune response or a heightened immune response to plaque and bacteria on the teeth.
While stomatitis per se is not life-threatening to cats, it can lead to complications that affect the cat’s life and health.
Any breed can be affected, although, according to Preventive Vet, symptoms seem to appear more severe in breeds like Siamese, Abyssinians, Persians, Himalayans, and Burmese.
Munoz said that after Prince Jack was hospitalized and treated for stomatitis at the hospital, he still refused to eat, so the veterinarian told her he would need to be hospitalized again.
“I had an instinctive feeling that I was not going to have him for much longer, so I opted to bring him home to be in the place he loved with the people and dogs he loved. We picked him up to bring him home and we kept him comfortable,” she said.
“We tried giving him kitten formula with a syringe or enticing him with his favorite treats. I cried. I begged. He didn’t want to move or get up or groom himself. It hurt more to see him suffer than to lose him.”
Seeing her fur-baby suffer so much, Munoz decided to get a second opinion from another veterinarian, who told her he was gravely ill and suffering, and that they would never get their old healthy cat back.
“He was far too ill, [so] we decided it was most humane to put him to rest. He was just so sick and suffering so much. He had nothing left in him to even want to move or fight.”
So Prince Jack passed in the arms of the woman he chose to be his mom, as she and her twins held him close and talked to him, telling him how loved he was. Now, his ashes lay in the sun, in his favorite plant pot outside his home.
“Not a day goes by, even four months later, that I don’t think of him or cry. I watch his videos on TikTok. The despair is so much. I’m crying while writing this. I sit and wonder again and again- what did I miss?
“How did he get so sick? Why wouldn’t he eat? Why did he give up? What could I have done differently. I’ll spiral if I let myself. I don’t know if this ache will ever leave me, but for now, grief has replaced him as my companion.”
The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 398,700 views and 81,500 likes on the platform.
One user, Victoria, commented: “This made me cry. This is the happiest and saddest story. So very sorry.”
Lauralindamoore said: “The rest of his life was spent with a loving family.”
GoddessJudyB added: “Thank you for such a loving, warm and kind send off. Thanks for loving that boy as all animals deserve. I have loved watching him over time.”
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The post Stray Cat Decides To Move In With Family – Then Tragedy Strikes appeared first on Newsweek.
