Arthur's Story

When Arthur came into my life, he had no idea that he was a small cat, and cared even less.

He was a cranky old guy with multiple medical problems: a missing eye, pain in the hips, thyroid problems, and anxiety. Certainly we can understand that last one!

Doctor felt that he could be treated, and could enjoy life so long as he had his medications, but would probably not live long. My daughter Vanessa developed his treatment plan as her final project for her Vet Tech certificate. Afterwards she said to me, "Randy, we will never find a placement for this cat."

I said to bring him here. What's one more cat, and this one a short-timer.

At first, the bigger cats tried to steal his food, but we worked out a system. He had "old age and sneakiness" down tight. The alleys behind the couches were his to rule.

I became his.

He did not give me a choice.

If I was late going to bed, he would find me and give me his short howl of command.

Arthur's past life was a mystery. He could not talk about it, but he showed a high level of awareness.

When I worked on the basement, Arthur conducted inspections.

He dreamed of hunting, but never tried to catch a bird.

He slept in a peculiar shape, perhaps due to his hip issues

Arthur loved catnip. He made it hard to grow it in my garden, but he never let it go to waste.

Arthur was not extremely playful, but occasionally cut loose, especially if a box or a laser was involved.

Arthur saw doctor every month, and afterwards liked to stroll a nearby garden. He was even willing to accept a leash the first time, until he had shown that he was safe there and not going to wander.

In the neighbor hood, I walked him on a leash for a while, which he allowed because he loved going outside so much. However he always wanted to duck into a neighbor's bushes, out of my control, leading to a few spats. We made up, and ultimately I let him wander starting from out lot. He didn't go far but enjoyed monitoring the yellow house next door.

Arthur REALLY liked his 'nip!

Arthur loved to hunt my daughter's socks. In the middle of the night he would capture one, bring it upstairs, and howl his song of triumph!

The first time this happened, I thought he was distressed because his howl was so full-throated. When I came to investigate, he would run off, leaving the sock behind, which I assumed I had somehow gotten mixed with my laundry. This continued; a suspicious number of socks appeared in my hallway; I knew I was not that careless. Finally I caught him with a sock in his mouth and noticed that it was maybe about the size of a mouse. Thereafter I loved the pride he took in bellowing his song of success!

Nothing could feel better than rolling on the warm steps of a hot summer day. He rolled on my front porch, he rolled on the side steps, he rolled on the sidewalk and the neighbor's steps. He was a cat who enjoyed his pleasures.

When Arthur felt it was time for me to take a lunch break, he would urge me to get out of my chair so he could be perform his duty, as shown.

It is clear that cats are not intelligent as we humans are; they have little notion of symbols and their vocabulary is small, but it is easy to see that they have feelings and preferences, and can train us to give them what they want.

While not verbal, Arthur was very expressive. Look at the tail: he's happy to see you!

He also used his short howl in a variety of contexts, mostly meaning "follow me to something interesting".

Sometimes Arthur decided he didn't want his meds, and hid under the bed. He was strong-willed!

When I splurged and got a leather-cover recliner, Arthur decided it was perfect for sharpening his claws. This had never been a problem with anything else, but there was something about this recliner that he needed to attack. I sighed, and covered it with a blanket. Now it's an excellent cat bed.

Whether on the recliner or in bed, Arthur liked to sleep by my head. Kiara told me that he used to sleep on her hair! but I don't have so much of that, so he made do with proximity. My snoring, his purring: we must have been a comedy.

He never really approved of mopping.

---

Arthur liked to watch me as I worked in the kitchen. Usually he was not asking for food, he was just watching. Once I spilled a little milk and he lapped it up eagerly. From then on, it was our forbidden ritual - I spilled, he lapped.

Eventually I started putting it into a dish and for at least a year that was part of his breakfast, along with wet food and the open crunchy feeder. Sometime during the pandemic he stopped drinking the milk, but I thought nothing of it.

Last month, Arthur gave his "follow me" call and took me outside to the basement window to show me there was a cat living down there!

Of course, I already knew all about Heather's cat but I praised Arthur for alerting me. Good job!

Once they got the food situation straightened out, Arthur pretty much got along with the other cats. They usually napped in company.

This is super important, because cats sleep a lot. Sometimes it can be hard to tell between a cat who is sick and one who is just sleeping. As the pandemic shutdown went on, it became less critical to give Arthur his meds before I went to work, so I let him sleep as he wished. I don't think this affected his appetite but who knows?

On the last weekend of his life, Arthur told me about a new tabby who had come into the neighborhood. Welcome neighbor!

The next day, Arthur collapsed.

You must understand that he was very elderly and had several medical problems. He had not been expected to last six months when he came into my life, and it had been 5 years. Good years.

Doctor observed him overnight. She had saved his life in the past, but now Arthur's metabolism was failing at last.

Arthur was calm but very tired. We had one last thing to do together.

Thank you, my friend, and good bye.