The cat that came back after 13 years

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Has, sadly, died.

It was just a month ago that ScientificAmerican.com reported the happy tale of a lost cat named George that came home 13 years after rescuers traced his owners through information on a microchip in the scruff of his neck.

He was nearly 17, sick and rail-thin, less than half the robust nearly 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms) he was when he mysteriously disappeared in June 1995. But Frank Walburg and Melinda Merman of Santa Rosa, Calif., were happy to have him home, and set about trying to bulk up their long-lost kitty and restore his health.

They spent weeks pampering and comforting George, giving him antibiotics and feeding him baby food using their fingertips until he was strong enough to eat on his own. ...

On November 19, she reported that George was hospitalized to pump him with IV fluids; the vet was "disappointed" the patient had not put more meat on his bones or showed more signs of improvement, and wanted to run more tests.

The next day, a sonogram revealed that he had cancer....

And the little c would succomb to the big C.

The entire story is here, at the SciAm.

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Isn't toxoplasma pretty much endemic in cats, only really manifesting as toxoplasmosis if they're somehow immunocompromised? I reckon they should have known that something else was wrong with the poor guy.
He lived a long life for a cat, though. Here's to George!