Magnificat Rocky and his journey with cancer

Magnificat Rocky and his journey with cancer

Magnificat Rocky may be one of the world’s most internet famous cats with over 1.4 million followers (see Pets on the Net: The Magnificats) but sadly, fame cannot protect you from the deadly C disease! Here is Rocky’s story…

Rocky, according to his owners, is a tough-guy Turkish Van x British Blue. He was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma; a particularly aggressive form of cancer, 9 weeks ago. He was given 1-4 weeks to live.

The Internet leapt into action, perhaps due to Rocky’s Magnificat siblings fame. The last 9 weeks have been a roller-coaster ride of surgical procedure, of fund-raising, of good will and of prayer.

Rocky has been treated at the world-famous ‘Supervet’ hospital, Fitzpatrick Referrals. Sadly, he has lost much of the left side of his face but pets, fortunately don’t sit still and lament loss of perfect looks or even body parts. They just get on with life!

Rocky still has chemotherapy and radiotherapy to go, but this boy has fought and fought. He’s developed coping mechanisms and has resumed a pretty normal life. Rocky’s not quite out of the woods though, so he needs your thoughts and best wishes.

The upshot is that Rocky has become something of a poster-boy for fighting animal illness against the odds. While many  vets – either through compassion, through ignorance or convenience – advised the euthanasia option, this was not for Rocky’s owners. As they said  “Rocky didn’t accept it”.

Here are some of the wishes for Rocky from cats and people around the world:

Aside from The Magnificats page, Rocky has his own ‘Prayers for Rocky’ group. He’s inspiring people. One lady in the US said, ‘I wake up every morning and think of my problems. And I think if Rocky can do this, I can do it’. Another cat-owner in the UK whose cat had been diagnosed with the same cancer was inspired by the success of Rocky’s surgery to admit her own cat. He’s doing well!

There are dozens of amazing stories. Only this week, Rocky’s page has spawned The Official Feline Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Support Group’ on Facebook.

Here is Rocky, showing us how pets cope with adversity. In other words, they get on with life…

We wish Magnificat Rocky and his family well in their journey. If you would like to wish Rocky well, leave a message in the comments.

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Postscript: 20th Sept 2017
We received the sad news that Rocky has now died. We offer our sympathies for Rocky’s family and, of course, the remaining Magnificats.