Beezus (aka Bea)

August 2003 - August 25, 2015

Nicknames: Beezus Mary Margaret, Bea Ann, Bean, Beanie Jean, Little Miss Tortie Pants

Bea will always be a kitten in my heart.  I was fostering for Animal Friends the summer I met her, in late August.  I saw my contact from the shelter at Bark in the Park.  She told me then that she had 3 kittens for me to foster.  They were 3 weeks old.  When I met the kittens, they were all so dear.  I still remember them so clearly.  There was a orange and white boy, a calico girl, and Little Miss Tortie Pants, Beezus.  Her official name was Beezus, but we always called her Bea.  

Four months old

For some reason, I fell in love with Bea pretty quickly and started taking her from our foster room out into the rest of the house and introducing her to my cats.  One day, I took her into the bathroom with me when I showered.  When I stepped out of the shower, she popped up from her meatloaf position on the rug and meowed at me, as if she was delighted to see me.  I was hooked.  

Several years ago, our vet palpated Bea's kidneys and observed that they felt unusual.  He did an ultrasound and diagnosed her with Polycystic Kidney Disease.  Since then, we have been monitoring her kidney values through periodic bloodwork and doing our best to help out her kidneys with a prescription kidney diet and daily subcutaneous fluids.

Earlier this year, the vet noted that her kidney values were climbing.  That lead to more frequent bloodwork.  At her previous visit, the vet told me that her BUN number had not gone up, indicating that she was probably still feeling well.  But her Creatinine level indicated that she was in end-stage kidney disease.  He warned us that she would have only weeks to one or two months left.

Up until Sunday, she had been feeling fine and then -- BOOM -- on Monday morning she started vomiting and went into hiding.  It was pretty obvious that she was feeling miserable.  We had her euthanized Tuesday afternoon.  She was always a fighter and would always struggle when being examined, but she didn't even fight when the vet was giving her the injection.  

"Don't you just hate this wallpaper, Mom?"

This one was the death that we had the longest to prepare for, but it has been the hardest to bear.  I guess it is the cumulative effect of losing 4 cats in such a short time.  It is hard to believe that we went from 7 cats in January to 3 cats today.  

Eric and I were laughing the other night about how it used to be -- sitting in the bathroom and realizing that there were no less than 5 cats in there with me! Now, the max we can have in one room is two, since Tuck and Clara don't get along.  

I spent Tuesday evening cleaning and doing pet laundry.  I got rid of an extra litter box and cleaned the entire room.  It was very therapeutic.  That, combined with the change of weather, I feel like it is the end of an era.  I'm thinking about vacations with Eric (something we have not done in a LONG time) and getting work done on the house.  In other words, I'm thinking about changes.  Not sure what, but I feel the need for them. 

Little John

2004? - August 21, 2015

Nicknames: John John, Johnny Jo, JJ, Jon-a-Mac...

Little John was one of three kittens found living with their feral mom under a porch in Washington, DC.  Alley Cat Allies trapped mom and babies and had them altered.  The vet who performed the surgery thought that the three kittens were to be released back outdoors with mom, so he eartipped their left ears.  However, Alley Cat Allies thought the wild kittens could be tamed.  They shipped the three boys off to a college student, living in a dorm.  The idea was that the students would be able to give the kittens lots of attention and help tame them.

Eventually, the college student moved on and the kittens (by now full grown cats) needed another foster home and help finding a permanent home.  Robin, Tuck and Little John came to live with Eric and I, while we were living in Derwood, MD.  Robin was outgoing; Tuck was shy, but came around quickly; John was painfully shy and wouldn't do anything without Tuck.  Eventually, Robin got paired with another cat and the pair were adopted.  We tried for a long time to get a home for Tuck and John, but they did not show well.  We had multiple people express interest only to back down later.  Finally, when we were moving from Maryland, the boys got shipped to a new foster home.  The new foster mom thought she might like to adopt them, but when she got sick, the boys had to be shipped to another foster home.  Finally, Alley Cat Allies called us and asked if we would take them permanently.  Alley Cat Allies arranged to transport the boys to Pittsburgh for us.

John was a sweet, playful, happy cat.  He was acrobatic and energetic.  He got along VERY WELL with some cats in our household, but fought bitterly with others.  To keep peace in the household, doors were kept closed and cats kept separated.

Thank goodness for the wall, holding the basket and him upright.

John formed quick attachments with several of our foster cats, and when Duncan was adopted, he and John formed a very strong bond.

Yes, he is doing THAT to Duncan!

John had an odd fabric obsession.  He would steal bath towels from the laundry room or fabric from my sewing room and drag them around the house.  Eventually, he and I reached an agreement.  I allowed him to keep several practice quilt squares and he stopped stealing stuff of mine.  For the rest of his life with us, several times a day we had to collect the quilt squares from the first floor and drop them down the stairs to the basement so he would be able to carry them up again.

Little John and his fellow pea, Tuck.

Tuck and John were like two peas in one pod.  They slept together and played together.  They were best friends and soul mates.  It is impossible to talk about John without talking about Tuck.

Several months ago, we noticed that John was not eating as well.  It got steadily worse.  Finally, we took him to the vet.  The vet diagnosed him with possible Lymphoma.  To be certain and to determine the best course of treatment, the vet would need to do an ultrasound and biopsy.  At the ultrasound, the vet discovered masses on John's liver and both adrenal glands, in addition to the lymph node.  We opted not to do the biopsy and not to proceed with chemotherapy.  

John was at the vet for about 4 hours that day.  He came home exhausted and promptly went to Macy, the dog, for comfort. Tuck was there too, but Macy was the primary source of John's comfort.  At one point, both John and Tuck were loving on Macy.  It was really adorable and touching to see.

We put John on steroids, tried to entice him to eat, and waited.  The wait ended last Friday.

Tuck seems to be coping well with the loss of his brother.  Tuck was always the stronger, more confident cat of the two.  John always relied more on the comfort provided by Tuck.  Everyone is getting more loving from us now -- for both our comfort and theirs.

Sweet, beautiful Little John will live forever in my mind as the cat on the railing (picture above) and the cat with the blankie in his mouth.

Sarris

1994 - May 5, 2015

Sarris was the second cat we ever adopted.  We had put our first cat, Rajah, down less than a month before and we had just moved into our newly rented duplex.  As soon as the movers left, we sat down and felt how empty the house was without any pets.  My mother had given me a coupon for money off a pet adoption at one of the Pittsburgh animal shelters, so we hopped up off the couch and went looking.  Our first two stops yielded nothing exciting.  The cats were all sleeping and didn't seem very promising.  At our third stop, we saw a kitty named Peaches.  He was awake and seemed interested in us.  Eric went off to get a shelter worker.  I leaned in and started talking to the kitty.  He stretched his paw through the cage and patted me on the nose.  I was SOLD!

Peaches was not a suitable name for this kitty.  He needed a name that was more befitting his personality.  Sarris is named after a local chocolate candy company.  We were struggling, as we always do, to pick a name for this sweet kitty.  Standing in front of the candy counter at Kaufmann's one of us suggested Godiva as a joke.  That name was just too grand for this timid little guy.  The logical next step was a less grand, but equally sweet chocolate name, Sarris.  

Shy, sweet, devoted, timid, athletic and affectionate.  Sarris was MY cat when Eric was travelling, but he quickly attached himself to Eric when Eric came off the road.  For over 20 years, we have slept with Sarris between us.

For the last several years, Sarris has been very slowly declining.  He was nothing more than skin and bones, but he still seemed to enjoy life and he continued to eat well.  He required fluids every night to help out his ailing kidneys and we offered him food every chance we got.  He slept a lot!  But he kept on going.

The night before we had him put down, he was very weak and didn't seem to have his normal interest in life.  I always thought that it would be crystal clear when it was his time, but the signs were subtle.  However, you can't spend so many years with a pet and not see the signs.

Despite the fact that Baxter and Sarris were the quietest, least active members of our household, our house feels so much quieter without them.

Baxter

Late Summer 1995 - April 22, 2015

Baxter was born to a feral mom and dad cat in Charlottesville, VA.  Eric's cousin had been feeding the family and when Baxter decided that he wanted to come inside, she obliged.  But she couldn't keep him as a house cat.  She offered him to us and we eagerly accepted.  For almost twenty years, Baxter was a (mostly) quiet, charming, and sometimes playful constant in our lives.

A week before we had Baxter euthanized, the vet told us that Baxter had a mass in his abdomen that would most likely (and quickly) become a problem.  Then I discovered that he had a mass on his skull that was pressing on his eye.  He had been acting uncomfortable for several days and when I found the lump on his head I knew it couldn't be good.  The vet was so kind and offered to put Baxter on medication to give him some relief from pain and give us some time.  But I just didn't think it made sense to prolong the inevitable.

I'll always remember Baxter as a playful kitten and as a self-elected greeter of guests in our powder room.