so 2 years ago today, Rex, our beloved cat, passed away. I've had/lost pets over my lifetime, but he was one of those one of a kind cats. We used to say the best cats are the ones that are the most dog-like. But he was more than that.
I bought him as a gift for my teenage daughter one Christmas. Got him at Pet Smart. She chose him. He was just one in a long line of cats I've owned.
Never had them growing up, my parents didn't like them, and I was horribly allergic to them, couldn't even sit next to someone that owned one, but years of shots and allergy treatments seemed to finally make that particular allergy go away. During college when I lived off campus in a little village, there was this cat that would hang around my house and it would come sit with me, but it belonged to someone else. I found I did enjoy them and they seemed to be a nice pet. At the time, I had 2 small dogs, my (also very beloved and one of a kind dog) Anthony, that I got for my 16th birthday and the very cute when she was little in the pound but horror show (my friends called her part weasel) Gretchun; I'll talk about them at another time. Anyway, I was driving with my then boyfriend up in the back roads and a cat ran across my path and I hit it with my car, try as I might, I could not find it, and being an animal lover, I was devastated (okay, not so much if I hit a squirrel because though I think they're okay, since I've started feeding the birds, I feel they are just rats with fluffy tails). So the next day I went to the pound and we came home with a black ball of fur, X-it, who was a great cat in his own right...but once again, this is about Rex.
So Rex came home, I think he was maybe 3-4 months old. When I tell you that cat's feet didn't touch the ground for months, I'm not kidding. She carried him everywhere. There was another dog in the house at the time (Muff'n), and I believe the other cats were Bailey and Moe. She kept him upstairs in her room a lot of the time, but once he got older and more adventurous, he had the run of the house.
When he was about 2, he started having some urinary tract issues, he had a couple of infections (in all my years, I'd never had a cat with urinary issues, or any big medical issues and now I know that was the uncommon cat) but then he got a blockage and almost died. My fabulous vet, who I'd been with since college, saved him a number of times (and almost killed him with an experimental treatment, but he didn't and as I say, veterinary medicine is not always an exact science, pets can't tell you where it hurts or how bad it is and he did try something I felt was reasonable, it made it worse, but he kept him and made it right (and called me EVERY day while he was on vacation the week after to give me updates while he was hospitalized here)) and at a minimal price.
When he was there, he was miserable and would not eat so we'd tell the girls (vet techs) to feed him Doritos as that was his favourite treat. The girls loved him as much as we did and he was there often. He came home with all kinds of meds, we had a photo of him with all his syringes and his 'poodle' feet (from shaving for the IV lines) pushing a mini shopping cart (used to hold salt/pepper, I put all his meds in it) and called it Rex's junkie mobile.
He then had the special $50 per bag food that we had to feed everybody because everyone eats out the same dishes, and daily meds, he was totally good about it. We learned that whenever we went away (not often, just a few days to maybe go see the NASCAR race in NH and camp) he would flare up, he didn't like people that were not his family and my friend would watch the pets when I was away, and that made him flare up, so I started sending him to the vet for boarding, which is also stressful, but the girls spoiled him rotten down there and I knew he'd get his meds.
My daughter then moved out/ran off with a guy she'd been dating (now that's another story too, she learns things the hard way) I wouldn't let her take Rex, who was now about 5 because they had another cat, the stress of taking him away from his home, the fact that I knew she couldn't afford his vet bills, and I wasn't sure he'd get his meds.
So Rex stayed here. He meowed when you came into a room or if you said his name, he loved to snuggle on your lap, he liked his squeaky mousies to bat around the house, he tolerated shoving pills down his throat daily and sometimes the needles in his fur. He was an indoor cat, the first indoor cat we had (though from him forward, they were all indoor cats because of the 'mean things in the woods')
He would follow you around the house like a dog, jump into your seat before you sat down, wait at the door for you to come in. He got out one time and stared at us from the woods but was too scared to move, but when it got dark (and I had just given up trying to get him in with food, etc) he ran in the way he got out (unlatched screen door from the kids ordering pizza).
It was a total shock when he died. The kids were all here (daughter was visiting) and he just didn't look right and I said so, they all thought I was crazy, but I just knew....I called the vet the next day (it was a Sunday) and couldn't get him in until that night, well he looked better and I knew how stressful it was to take him to the vet, it really wasn't even anything I could put my finger one except he would not make eye contact with me. I called the vet and cancelled at 4 pm (his appointment was at 6), by 7, you could tell there was something really wrong, I called and they had left for the day. I sat up with him all night, he was lethargic and just sad and his purr was broken, always a sign he wasn't well, I kept poking him to make sure he was still alive, I got all his favourite foods out to try and get him to eat, he wanted to eat little pieces of concrete in the basement floor.....I got him into the vet early and my vet, who is not a people person at all, whisked him away mumbling he didn't like the way he looked, I looked at the tech and she shrugged and said she had no idea what he was thinking.....later that afternoon, he called and said he had Feline Leukemia and he was going to do a transfusion, prednezone, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't hear after the Feline Leukemia....his paw pads and gums were white from the lack of red blood cells, but he said that a lot the time they can zap it into remission with this method and Rex was only 8.....he had been tested when we got him, he'd had the first shot, but being a housecat, he didn't need any more shots for it ever, all the other cats had been tested and had the shots, pharaoh, who goes out, always had yearly vaccine for it, I had just gotten luna and had kept her separated until she was tested (negative), he also said I needed to sterilize everything he ever touched or throw it out so my other cats would not get sick, and I'd probably have to always keep him separate, something I really had no idea how to do...because it was evening, I asked if I could go down but they were doing treatments and said come in the morning and bring the other cats to get tested. In the morning I rounded everyone up and put them into their carriers, I was about halfway there when my cellphone rang and my vet was on the other end telling me how sorry he was, he'd gone into respiratory distress and he died.
I still have trouble talking about it.
I continued down there with my other cats, and when I walked in, there wasn't a dry eye there, they all loved him as I did. The tech that had to test my other cats was crying, the tech that treated him came over and told me he wasn't alone, she stayed with him the whole time. I wrapped him up and brought him home, we put his mousies in with him and he's buried in the backyard. I then had to throw away every thing that was his. Cancer is a horrible disease, in humans who can (for the most part) talk about how they feel, but even more so in animals who cannot.
To this day, they have no idea how he got it, how it didn't show up in any testing, if I'd given him the vaccines anyway, would it have kept it away?
I've had a lot of pets, I've lost a lot of pets (and family) but this was just truly one of the worst. Some people really don't understand the bond you can have with a pet, but they don't judge you, even though he was a cat, he depended on me to keep him safe, I think the sheer shock of him dying in literally one day is what upset me most, if I'd noticed sooner, could he have lived? I don't know. I've lost most of my immediate family when I was young (parents/grandparents) so not like I'm numb to people dying, but I'm usually okay over it, yes I'm sad, but life does go on. I may seem cold about it, but I lost the most important people in my life at the time as a teenager and you have to move on otherwise what is the alternative?
I'm sure at some point I'll write about all of them, especially my dad who had a massive heart attack and died while I was away at college, I was 18, he was only 42.
So Rex it's been 2 years, I still miss you and think about you every day, hope you are up there with your mousies and having a good time with no more pain or meds.
