That Catmandu could ever, ever be cruel to a cat or ignorant of the cat's needs! It was probably a serious illness, as mentioned above, and it wasn't very nice of the vet to chew you out like that (but I guess that vet must see many, many cases of real neglect each and every day) Furthermore, cats have an uncanny sense of sympathy and Pouncer probably knew you were stressed out about looking for work - and thus hid her symptoms.

Pouncer would have enjoyed nine years of love and affection and I just bet that she misses you, but is happy to play with all her friends at RB