saturday the day we say good bye
archie had been sick for a long while. i had a bad experience with a self righteous vet in september. i felt like whatever he had was terminal but she downplayed it and pushed hard for medications and treatments and xrays and ultrasounds. i did some blood work and got him 3 different medications. forcing a cat to take medicine is traumatic to both cat and cat care-er. the blood work said his pancreas was inflamed so the vet said he had pancreatitis. at first the medication seemed to work a little. i don't know if i was just hopeful but i thought maybe he gained a little weight. but barb (at work) said i wouldn't be able to tell so soon. all this was happening at the time of amy's wedding and dad's hospital time so other people were helping to care for archie the king of orange while i was on the island. thanks to andrea, heather and the bishop for taking care of my boy when it was not easy to do so. after i got home it became clear he was not getting better. he continued to throw up multiple times a day and have diarrhea. his skeletal body was so pitiful. i knew i needed to put him down but didn't want to go back to that same vet. i felt like she just wanted to get as much money before she put him down as possible. and how could i actually put down my orange furry? his trust in me, i couldn't face it. so i kept putting it off. he was hard to pet because his back was all bones. but as my christmas vacation time loomed, i knew i had to do it. i couldn't leave him in such a state in the care of judy for 2 weeks. but still i couldn't bring myself to call a vet and make the appointment. finally one day while reading the book of mormon i had a thought. "ask heather to help you." so i did. i texted her "heather i need your help" and that's the kind of text heather does not ignore. she called me and i told her how i needed to do it but i couldn't call and make an appointment. i told her what katie's retired vet friend told her to tell me to say to the vet. "he's already been examined, i don't need a lecture, yadda yadda" heather, bless my friend, took the reins. that was monday night and on tuesday she looked up vet reviews and called up a place that actually i had taken izzy to before when she was all crazy cranky because of the neighbour cat's tauntings. she explained the story and told what we needed. she made an appointment for saturday morning. and she took a bus and the sea bus and the skytrain to come be with me. i hope everyone can have a friend like heather.
i picked her up at shoppers at 10. on the way to pick her up i had a little prayer. a prayer for me that i would know i was doing the right thing and a prayer for my boy that he would know i loved him. and i cried a little. heather climbed into sahib the habib and started up her stream of cheerful distracting chatter. we went back to my place and of course she had to pee urgently and then we pet the cats a little and then we put archie in the carrier, which was just too easy to do. he's never gone in so easy. he didn't fight it at all. heather held him in the cage and talked to him on the way to the vet as he mewed. as soon as we got there they put us in a room. we let archie out and he slunk around the room alarmed. i got down on the floor so he would have a more solid sense of something familiar. the assistant came in and got me to sign some paper work and then the vet came in and did an exam. she said he was jaundiced, which is hard to tell in an orange cat. she said he was super dehydrated and his eyes were sunken. she said she suspected it was something much more serious than pancreatitis something more like lymphoma and that we were doing the right thing. prayer answered.
she took archie away to get a catheter put in his paw. well his front leg above the paw. heather and i were talking while she was gone, she was telling me what it was like and she started to get emotional, and i realized this must be bringing everything back for her when she lost rothko and gus. but she was determined to be there for me. christmas music was plying quietly but cheerfully over the pa system and the bright sun was shining in the window. the vet brought archie back wrapped in a blanket and gave him to me to hold. then she injected a sedative into his catheter 2 times. he stretched his head out and to the side. the vet pushed his head up against me gently and gave him the anesthetic that puts him to his final sleep. i was holding him and my eyes were filling up with tears and i was looking down on his tufts of orange and white fur...one of my favourite spots, his fluffy chest. and i saw it rise gently just once. and the vet laid a stethoscope to is chest and said softly "he's gone, he's gone". he was so soft and limp in my arms and i started to cry. she left and after a moment heather left to give me time alone with my boy. and i cried a while and kissed him and told him that i loved him. he was just so soft and furry as he always was but the feeling of his suffering was gone. it was a sweet sad moment. i didn't want to put him down. but i did. i layed him on the table all curled up in a kitty bun in his blanket and i left him there.
archie. archikins, archimongo, archibald, bad boy, furry. he was in my life for 12 years. he was my orengi kudasai. he was sweet and purry and funny and weird and stubborn and annoying and cute and patient and forgiving and softer than the softest, he was triple thick pelt. he was wide jaw and golden eye. he was luxury. he was perfection in the details of his magnificent creation. he was my friend. he was my comfort. he was archie-under-foot. he was a winy plaintive cry, he was a heavy thump on my chest. he was a laguid outstretched paw. he was a camoflauger. he constantly annoyed me and overwhelmed me with his cuteness. i miss him. and i savour his memory.
here are pics a plenty of the archie of my life. let's celebrate the archie of my heart.
the first three were taken with old paps, dad's film pentax slr when archie was a young buck.
in the marpole apartment archie and izzy in their collar days, curious about everything.
feed me stupid human. i tire of your games.
too cute
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