That night we slept in our bedroom in the new house for the first time. Odie didn't.
We didn't think much of either. We thought our lack of a schedule disrupted his. We thought that after a night of sleeping in the new room, he'd realize that's where we were going to be from now on.
In the morning, Michelle was worried because he slept with his head against his water dish. He never did that before. I thought Michelle was being paranoid. Later that morning, I thought I saw him breathing erratically. Michelle thought I was being paranoid. We ran some errands that morning. After an hour out and about, we returned. It had become obvious by then that Odie's breathing had become laborious.
Michelle called our vet. We managed to get him in before noon. The vet kept Odie for the day. He said several times that Odie's condition, whatever it was, was serious. Michelle called the vet at 3:00P.M. The vet told her he thought Odie had bronchitis, but he thought there may be an underlying condition. She was told that he had to be picked up at 5:00P.M., and that the vet would write a referral to a 24 hour animal hospital, should we want to take him. Odie's condition then seemed to be on the upswing. His breathing wasn't as labored, and we were told he was talking to the assistants at the vet clinic.
At 5:00P.M. we returned to the vet's office to find out Odie's condition had worsened. Taking him to the 24 hour animal hospital no longer seemed like an option, it was a necessity. The vet was talking about cardiomyopathy causing there to be fluid in Odie's lungs. We gathered Odie's things and went immediately. Odie, I could tell by his muted meows, didn't like being moved so much.
We waited at the animal hospital for over an hour to speak with their vet. They took digital x-rays and could see things with better clarity than or normal vet. The condition was far worse than our vet could tell with his x-ray machine. Cardiomyopathy was indeed the diagnosis, what type exactly would have taken a echocardiogram to determine. The walls of Odie's heart had thickened. His heart had enlarged and had become valentine-shaped. There was fluid throughout his lungs. The assistant brought us a list of things they were going to do to get Odie to make it through the night, maybe. The list was extensive, covering a full page. Even then there were no guarantees. In fact, the read we got from the vet was that it was a long shot. The treatment the first vet gave for bronchitis actually worsened his condition. (There is no way our vet could have known based on the information he had at the time.) The vet talked about DNRs and if we'd like to be called if his condition worsened throughout the night. No one was talking about long-term treatment or care. The focus was only on finding a way for Odie to survive until morning.
It was the thought of Odie dying alone in an oxygen cage that was too much. He died with us there, comforting him.
When we bought this house, Michelle told Odie it was our forever home and that he would never have to move again. She "sold" him on the house's low windows and wide window ledge's, perfect for a catnap in the sun. Odie got to enjoy those windows for too short of a time, but he did enjoy them.
Odie and I had an antagonistic relationship most of his life, but that had changed a lot since I went on shore duty. Over the last three years, I had become his second-choice for pets. This is a major step up. For a long time, I wasn't even a choice. Since we moved, there were a couple of times where I was his first-choice.
Odie had his 15 minutes of fame in the mid-90s. He was featured in the Marmaduke comic strip's "Dog Gone Funny" section. We have the stip around here somewhere, in a box no doubt. It was his desire for affection that gained him fame. He loved giving "kisses." By that I mean, he would put his nose up to your mouth, about an inch away, and he would not go away until you made kissing noises. It was funny enough for Marmaduke's creator Brad Anderson to feature him one Sunday a decade ago.
Odie demanded affection. Kisses, head-butts, you name it. Woe be unto the book that got in between you and Odie. Odie would chew the corners of a book if he thought it was taking too much time away from him. That is if you could even read it with him head-butting the book until you stopped what you were doing and paid attention to him.
Odie was also a hunter. One of the fastest cats I have ever seen, when it suited him. He's got mice and birds to his credit. He seemed to enjoy the hunt and would often stalk through the house just looking for a cricket or a moth or some other unfortunate creature to cross his path.
Most of all, I'll remember his purr. He purred often and loudly. He couldn't help it. He purred when touched.
He purred at the end.
Edit:
I made a mistake. Odie was not featured in Marmaduke. Rather he was featured in Larry Wright's Carlyle's Cat Hall of Fame, part of the strip Kit 'n Carlyle, in 1998. The date on the strip is 11-23. I have a copy which I will scan and post later.
No comments:
Post a Comment