In January of 2003, we moved to Los Angeles, California. Sadie was going on 10 months old by then, and at 6 pounds she was still smaller than the typical kitten her age. That was part of her disease. By then we had acquired a sixth cat, Punkin, and I packed them all into my little mustang and headed out of Greenville, South Carolina for the 4-day drive toward a new future in Hollywood, California.

It wasn’t long after I arrived in Los Angeles that Sadie began spotting blood. I knew that unlike female dogs, when a female . . .