My feline Alpha Male has gone
I am sorry to say that my festive spirit has been dampened somewhat as my beloved cat Johnny died the day before yesterday. If you are of the ‘it’s just a cat’ mindset, then read no further. If, however, you appreciate the quirks, idiosyncrasies and characteristics that make every pet so unique and know how easy it is for them to become part of the family, rather than just simply ‘animals’, then you’ll no doubt understand how upsetting losing one can be.
One of the aspects of Johnny that made him so particularly special to me was the fact that he was a catalyst that brought Lovely Boyfriend and I together as, just a week or so after meeting LB, he caught a virus that paralysed him (the cat, not LB). I was due to go to Malta for two weeks and was naturally concerned about what to do with Johnny whilst I was abroad. LB offered to take him to the several vet appointments that had been scheduled and to visit him every day to feed him and spend some time with him whilst I was away. I realised very quickly that I had found someone really special. I can’t think of many other men who would so readily look after a sick cat so soon into a relationship.
Upon my return however, their bond took a downward turn as Johnny soon realised that his status as Alpha Male in the household was hanging in the balance and he took to drastic measures to eliminate this new found threat. Any time LB got up from a chair, Johnny was would jump up and pee on it – even marking his territory on LB’s clothes one night, resulting in LB having to go to work wearing a pair of my trousers. At one point I really thought I was going to have to choose between them, but fortunately Johnny must have seen sense and realised the best way to ensure a long and happy life in the house was to get along with this mysterious but kind stranger and soon harmony was restored.
He was always a bit of an accident looking for a place to happen, picking up any and every illness that was going around and always managing to find himself in the war paths of the local dominant male cats despite having the aggression and fighting spirit of a Buddhist monk on valium. I was aware that his proverbial nine lives were fast running out but optimistically hoped he had at least two or three left.
So, the other night, after being missing for a couple of days during the dreadful stormy weather, when I eventually found Johnny lying in a puddle in the middle of the night unable to walk, I remembered his previous illness and unfortunately assumed he was paralysed from a virus again.
We immediately took him to a vet that was on call close to our house who, after examining him, told us that Johnny was tired, cold, dehydrated and seemed to be a little bit hurt on his side and gave him some fluids and a jab. Handing us a tin of cat food on our way out, he told us to keep Johnny warm and to call in the morning if he was still poorly. Seeing no change in him the following morning I took him to our regular vet who immediately saw that he had been hit by a car and had a broken and dislocated leg and internal bleeding. Unfortunately he just wasn’t strong enough to survive and died from his injuries a day later, the poor, poor thing.
We collected him from the vet, opened a bottle of wine to toast him with and then held a little ceremony as we buried him in the back garden. I can see that having five cats means the odds were even more heavily stacked against us with regards to accidents, but until the other night the idea of one of them dying had really never crossed my mind. I’m now looking forward to remembering the happy memories of my funny, neurotic, eccentric and utterly lovely Johnny and not his last painful few days.
Normal festive spirit will resume soon…
