How Willow became

How Willow became
the love of my life
Sonja Steiner tells the story of her
adopted cat and how illness has
interrupted his fresh new start
I
fell in love with Willow the
minute he arrived at the animal
sanctuary. He has the most
endearing face and eyes that just
light up the room and we bonded very
quickly. Willow found that the best vantage
point at the farm was the top of the barn
where he could watch the world go by
and of course look out for me! As soon
as my car came into view he would run
as fast as he could down to the car where
I would open the door and he would
jump onto the passenger seat and we
would drive the rest of the way in; then
it was feed time followed by lots of cuddles. He would often try to follow me as
I left by running over the cattle grid and
it broke my heart to leave him.
They say that cats choose their owners and this was definitely the case with
Willow. He was offered a home with a
lovely couple and since I wasn’t able to
adopt him due to having an elderly cat
at home who was terrified of other cats,
I agreed for him to be rehomed. Within
two days he was back having attacked his
new owners.
It was agreed that I would be responsible for Willow’s care until I was in a
position to take him home and I couldn’t
have been happier. Sadly we lost our beloved cat Poppet,
who we had for more than 15 years, in
2011. The house was so empty and the
time had come for Willow to come and
live with me. He is such a happy go
lucky little chap and it was wonderful to
be able to see him every day and get to
know all his quirky little ways. I wanted
to give him all the love, care and happiness that he didn’t have before.
He is such an affectionate, loving
and loyal cat who has never shown any
signs of aggression. Willow is mainly a
house cat but on dry days we go out for
our daily walk around the garden with
him on his harness and the bell tingling,
warning the birds that he is around.
Without the harness he would, without a
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doubt, be a kitty killing machine.
One evening in June last year I found
a lump on Willow’s neck and my immediate fear was lymphoma - it was what
my gut instinct was telling me. I immediately took him to the vets the next
morning. Willow did not have any of the
classic symptoms of lymphoma so his
vet wanted to rule out a couple of other
things before the lump was removed.
Approximately two weeks later it was
taken away, and then came the wait for
the biopsy. I received a call from Willow’s vet
confirming he had the early stages of
lymphoma. I was devastated at the news;
I couldn’t believe that my beautiful, adorable boy, who had such a rough and sad
start to his life, was going to have it cut
short. I took Willow down to see the
vet to discuss our options, where everything was explained to me about the
chemotherapy. The staff at the veterinary surgery were amazing and they did
their best to minimise the stress to him
throughout his treatment.
My main consideration at all times
was Willow and how he would react
to the treatment. But I need not have
worried as he suffered no ill effects and
maintained the same weight of 5.60kg
throughout.
I wanted Willow to be treated with
alternative remedies which his vet was
happy to support and I also put him on
the purest diet I could find. I wanted to do what I could to sup-
It was agreed that I would be responsible for
Willow’s care until I was in a position to take
him home and I couldn’t have been happier.
port Willow too, so I decided to train to
do Reiki and I am now a Reiki Master
Practitioner. This was so I could give
him Reiki treatments as and when he
felt he needed them. The first time I
gave Willow Reiki, I chose the Animal
Healing CD by Margrit Coates and
Perry Wood to listen to. It is such a
beautiful peace of music and I was overcome with a mixture of emotions. I felt
so privileged to be in a position to give
Reiki to my beloved pet.
In May this year I was taken ill, but
Willow has been my constant companion
throughout. He knows when I am having
a bad day and does his best to make me
feel better. When I came out of hospital
he snuggled up to me, gently rubbing his
head against mine and stroking his paw
on my cheek as reassurance as if to say,
‘you will be ok mommie, I am here’ and
it made me love him more and more.
We are now 14 months into treatment. Willow is doing remarkably well
and he is in remission but I still take
every day at a time and I check him daily
for any lumps.
Willow is a very special cat who
brings a lot of joy and happiness to my
life. He really is one in a million and I
treasure every precious moment I have
with him. I would like to take this opportunity
to say a massive thank you to Willow’s
Vet Mark Buxton and all the team at
Vets4Pets, Tim Couzens and all at The
Holistic Veterinary Medicine Practice
for their support and kindness shown to
me throughout Willow’s treatment. And
if I may to PetPlan who have supported
Willow throughout his treatment.
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