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.

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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.

Friday Around The House

 Due to bad air quality alerts, caused by smoke from Oregon or California, we cancelled our morning walk. Also my car is in the shop getting the catalytic converter replaced.

I remain sad about putting Arthur to sleep. He seemed normal on the weekend, and I can still hear his friendly squawk. In retrospect, I should have noticed he was getting lighter and saw about doing things to improve his appetite - or figure out if there was an eating problem - but I relied on his monthly eye drain to monitor his weight because at first they were weighing him. I found out yesterday that they hadn't weighed him lately so his being 2 pounds down was a surprise.

I trust Dr. Sanchez, because she was the one who saved Arthur initially, but I regret leaving Arthur at the hospital Wednesday night in the expectation that he would be given fluid for the next 3 days. I feel if I had brought him home maybe I would have figured out oral rehydration or found something he still wanted to eat. But it's too late now.

I responded to Kiara's PMs and later had an extended PM with Sherry.

I understand that Arthur has old and had many health issues so he was probably going to die soon anyway, but I regret the decision. I accept that I'll just live with that regret and learn from it.

The remaining cats are being extra affectionate and that's nice. They are not intelligent as we humans are, but they have a level of understanding.

It may seem petty to mourn a cat on 9/11 - I have carefully avoided posting on FB - and in the middle of this pandemic - but I still mourn. I will be functional and I suppose it is comforting to know I still have the capacity to love.

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In other news: I took my car into Mienecke for an oil change. The guy told me the oil seal needed replacing, which I felt was plausible because we're about 200k miles, but it'd be done around 5. This was fine since I can walk everywhere I need to go. When I returned, he said the catalytic converter needed replacing; stuff inside was broke up, rattling around, and eventually would shift to partly block the tailpipe, reducing power. Again, I was willing to believe it since 200k and all, plus he showed me when he shook it grey dust fell out. The car had to stay overnight so they could get the part; I walked home and texted Julie, who knows cars. We talked it over and I feel more comfortable that this was the right decision. I had the money either way but I just didn't want to be ripped off.

Arthur is Sleeping now

On the walk, I got the call. Doctor was of the opinion that treating Arthur would be useless. His temperature was 93 degrees. I accepted her evaluation and went to the hospital. I bargained with Death; I would take him home for a last look around, try oral rehydration with a syringe, let him die at home.

I knew none of this mattered. There was a reason he had stopped eating and drinking. We don't know what that was - doctor implied that so many causes could be soft tissue that does not show on x-ray - but something had required his eye to come out five years ago - but he had access to solid, pate and liquid, and had refused even tuna. Occasionally he nibbled on something, and that memory gave me hope, but there was something killing him. Did I want to drag it out?

When I took Arthur in, and they recommended euthanasia, I asked for options. They said they could try a 3 day course of fluids, and cited the cost. I agreed to that. They suggested taking him home and I asked if he could stay overnight, intending to minimize the disturbance of transport. This was probably an error, since it deprived all of us of a final night together.

In the morning, on the call, Doctor was sympathetic and genuinely sad. She had saved Arthur's life five years ago, so trusted doctor. I will never know whether this was the right decision.

Once I had stopped bargaining with Death in the parking garage, I went inside. In a private room, they asked me to sign the paper authorizing euthanasia. I decided to take Arthur home first and talk it over with his cat mom, co-owner Vanessa, and also show the other cats. They asked me to wait. As it happened, Vanessa and Heather were both working, and came to talk with me. They brought Arthur with warmed rice bags and a white comforter. His head poked out and his ears were up, but he was not active. If he had been healthy, he would have pushed with his paws to control the situation, and he did not. Occasionally he gave a sound like a cross between a faint version of his hunting howl; they said he was wheezing. 

We took last pictures.

I both wanted and did not want. I wanted Arthur to be healthy and this was not available. I wanted to do what was best for him, and this was not knowable. I authorized the euthanasia. There was already a line in his foreleg. Doctor explained before she acted. She injected clear saline to clear the line. She injected a pink fluid sedative. Arthur's head sank as if sleeping. He was gone.

The rest is silence.

Arthur Is In Hospital

 

Arthur is in the hospital tonight. He seemed his normal self until maybe two days ago, although he'd recently stopped drinking the milk that he loved too much. I attributed that to the change of diet occasioned by needing to keep dry foot away from Shadow; instead of having dry food out all the time, I provided plenty of pate' and occasionally tuna, well chopped and squished for easier eating. There's always dry foot on the kitchen table and the shelf in the blue room that Shadow can't reach but the others can. I would sometimes see Arthur eat on that shelf. Recently as he disdained the milk and even the pate I would give him snacks, which he gobbled, but eventually they lost his interest two. Then the other day he just lay around all the time; he didn't seem right. Heather arranged for an appointment around dinnertime. While the other day he explored the outside with me, and ignored the new brown tabby from accross the street, now Arthur would just sit and look at the floor.  He lost interest even in snacks, which he had formerly gobbled. 

Doctor said he was dehydrated and two pounds underweight, which is quite serious for a cat this small. There could be a variety of reasons for this, perhaps liver or gall bladder problems. She said it would not be wrong to put him to sleep, or we could dry 3 days of intravenous fluids by keeping him in the hospital. He was not currently suffering greatly but it was comparable to a bad cold.
It was not clear what is best for the cat, and I did not want to make a choice based on what makes me feel better. I appreciate that he's quite old and has lived years longer than we ever expected. However if he is not suffering, I'm not ready to let him go without one try to revive him, so I said to keep him in the hospital and try fluids. I have no idea whether this will do it but we'll see. I feel good about this choice and ready to accept whichever way it goes. I regret that I did not notice his weight loss, but I was not in the habit of weighing him. I do recall the sensation of him being rather small so perhaps I was noticing something I did not recognize. I  believe I was lead astray by his continuing activity almost up to the end. I will have to remember this for future animals and people.

I am working on toastmasters projects to propose on Friday. Joint efforts are fun! 

Labor Day

It's Labor Day, so I posted my usual Labor Day Meme:

We three walkers planned an extra special walk: from Lincoln Park to the Highpoint Water Tower. It was lengthy and very scenic (for West Seattle anyway). It seemed easier than our traditional Frontenac route but I suppose it was just not at steep in any single place.

Time For Change In The Bridge Garden

One of our favorite talking topics is gardening. This time of year some of the crops are done, and it's time to rotate out the peas and bring in something else, like winter kale. This means the bridge may have to come down.
Today I gave away the box springs that Heather had surplussed. This was a surprise and a pleasure for I had anticipated having to pay to junk them, but some family on some Facebook group or other needed them. Yay.
I worked on my radish pods, sorting out in the nice weather.

Sunday Walk

This, the Sunday of a 3-day weekend, I intended to be a day of rest, with no driving and minimal contact. It was fun playing dominoes last night, but now for some "me" time!
I had 2 pies: one apple and Oregon grape (from my rain garden) and the other apple and plum, using the plums from Hannah and Julie had begun to turn because I hadn't refrigerated them. I don't add sugar to my fruit pies; they are plenty satisfying as is.
For my exercise today I did a full set of youtube yoga, madfit and khuri abs - 30 or 40 minutes in all. I walked 6309 steps, according to Google Fit, mostly going to the dollar store to get another colander for holding fruit. I got an orange halloween one because it matched the little oranges that I try to keep in stock. I don't know whether we'll have trick-or-treating this year - who knows?
The cats occasionally encourage me to go outside to keep them company. The new brown tabby came over to check things out, and was ignored by Arthur.