Ash, Gustave, and Oscar Update!

I suppose I should give an update on the three musketeers! I know it's been a very long time, but I suppose that makes for a very long story!! The everything was just fine the last time I wrote about them, however lots has changed over the years.

To start, I ended up moving into a condo with my girlfriend in April 2021, and with her came another cat, Frankie! Frankie is a striped tortoiseshell cat with a weird personality! She's also a little absent-minded and she seems to not understand what to do half the time! But I love her anyways and with her, the three musketeers are no more! Now it's the four bumbling boopers (I don't include Monty since he lives apart from the others).

Here's Frankie with a Santa hat!

Not only is Frankie weird and slightly stupid (she doesn't know what to do half the time, especially when she's uncomfortable she just freezes in one spot and she doesn't move or anything) but she is also obsessed with food and I know most cats are obsessed with food, but she's really on a whole other level! She even goes to steal Ash's food and then runs away with the one piece of food in her mouth to eat it elsewhere! Ridiculous! Anyways, she got super fat at one point because of her obsession so we put her on a nice diet! Now she's much closer to a healthy weight, although it's really my girlfriend who manages all that!

So that was the happy news, now it gets a little more sombre because in 2022 Oscar died! My girlfriend, Mélia (I don't think I ever really mentioned her name), was on vacation at the time at Disney world so I was taking care of the all of our pets alone at the time. Everything with just fine given the fact that he was diagnosed with three different cancers. He was playing that morning, but when it came time to give his med and his dish of food, he no longer seemed "normal". Usually he'll have a good amount of energy to eat and then he'll want to find another place to sleep, but this time he was barely able to eat his dish. In fact, it seemed like he was drowning in his dish (even if it's only a small dish that we give, he wasn't able to keep his head out). I ended up taking the dish away and I picked him up and held his weak, limp body in my hands and that's when I really knew something was wrong. He was still moving and breathing, but they were weak movements and it was only his head that he could move, the rest of his body was limp. I'm not going to lie, but during this time I was in a bit of a panic since Mélia wasn't here and my car broke down a couple of days earlier. So I was kind of stranded at home. I did of course call Mélia to let her know how he was, and I also notified the nearby vet that I was coming. The only thing left to do was to wait for the taxi to come.

It felt like it was taking forever, and I can see Oscar getting weaker and weaker with each passing minute! Not only that, but he was now starting to pass feces all over himself. Finally the taxi arrived and we went on our way to the vet clinic. I was hoping they'd be able to do something, but I also knew that the odds were very slim. When we go to the vet they took him in quickly and they tried to administer an IV to get some fluids into him, but based off of his condition they promptly recommended euthanasia, which I of course accepted. What's worse was that at the time they weren't even able to successfully give him fluids, so euthanasia was really the only option. Originally he was supposed to be euthanized in front of me, because that's what I asked, but they weren't able to find his vein or something, so in the end he had to be brought into the back and put to sleep there. When I think back to it, it feels like the world was leading me to his death. As in, I don't think it was a coincidence that my car broke down not too long before Oscar died. If my car hadn't broken down, I would have been at work and he would have died without me there to support him! Of course he had Gustave, but still! I think the world made it so that I can be there in his final moments! So all in all, Oscar died with as much support that he could get, and he went out peacefully in the end, at least that's what I'd like to believe!

Furthermore, now that Oscar is gone, things took a bit of a turn for everyone! Everyday seemed lonely and weird! My daily routine was different since normally I had to take care of Oscar, but he was no longer there! Moreover, Gustave started to be depressed, he no longer really played with us or had as much energy which, of course, makes sense since he just lost his brother! But as time passed, things got better. I never forgot about Oscar, but the condo didn't feel as lonely anymore. Gustave also started to play more and his favourite thing to do was to hide balls everywhere, although I suppose he always used to do that ahaaha.

With all that said, let's fast forward to 2024, this is when Gustave was diagnosed with a cancer. We promptly got an implant for him, but like all cancers, it only got worse! To make things worse, he ended up being diagnosed with a cardiac problem on top of his cancer and so we began to give him several medications! The vets said that he wouldn't live long, but for some reason Gustave pushed on! He somehow has tons of energy, is always eating, and he still looks healthy. Even the vets were surprised! I guess Gustave doesn't want to lose to the cancer that took his brother, so he has a strong reason to live on! Also, don't worry, we're in 2025 now and he's still fighting! In fact, Mélia and I decided to foster a female ferret also the same age as Gustave, so about 6 or 7. her name is Luciole and she has the worst form of cancer for a ferret, a lymphoma!

Luciole loves sleeping with people, I suppose she feels the safest that way!

Despite being an old ferret with a lymphoma, Luciole has a crazy amount of energy! She plays and hops all over the place! She was even given the name "Crack head" given how crazy she is! She also destroys my plants which is a very annoying thing, but at least the majority of my plants are on shelves and are safe from the crack head! Anyways, ever since we got her into our home, Gustave has taken a turn for the better! He plays for hours with her and they're always sleeping with one another. Seeing him play with Luciole really makes it obvious that he was still in a depressed state and being alone definitely didn't help at all!

Gus and Luciole sleeping together

Anyways, till today (February 4th 2025) Gustave and Luciole are still relatively healthy given their condition, Ash and Frankie are both on a diet and are getting very close to a healthy weight, and Monty is, well, being Monty!! Finally, I suppose I'll change it from the four bumbling boopers to the five crack heads (even if one of them is sleeping peacefully 24/7).