Tuesday, October 30, 2018

A CAT NAMED FRED

A CAT NAMED FRED

I feel terrible about the way Fred and I first came into each other's life. Outside the building I own there's a divided street by a median. This street has a little bit of bushes and shrubs like most medians do in an attempt to bring some vegetation to the outskirts of Downtown and in the East side of town.

One day I heard what I thought was a baby bird chirping outside really really loud. I went outside to look around and I couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. I looked at the neighbor's awning and figured that some birds just had recently given birth or something. Went back inside and for several hours I kept hearing that noise on this very hot and dry day. It was driving me a bit nuts and so I went outside again to investigate more.



Sure enough I walked half way across the street and was looking for the source of the noise to find that it wasn't actually a bird, but a very very tiny all white kitten with his eyes completely crusted over. I thought for sure that if I took it to the vet that they would just mercifully put it down because of being abandoned and looking like it was not very old.

I brought him in and tried to wipe off the crustiness from his eyes. There was a lot of it all over his little face and I was really scared that he would just die right there and then. Helena, the other cat I had rescued from the street came in and sure as rain tolerated this little runts attempts to treat her like a mother. She had the instincts and just enough fucks to give to not be annoyed by it. He even tried nursing on a then year old Indiana - One of Helena's other babies.

Simply put, Fred was a mental case looking for a momma figure because he was just straight up left behind in the middle of the road.

He was the whitest cat I have ever seen and because of that I tried to think of what the whitest name I could think of. Something very frat boy like. Like straight up Guy Fieri style flavor town level. Well, I came up with Fred. And honestly, that's probably the most fitting name this cat could have had.

He got a lot better over the next few weeks. Was a bit surprised by that even though I nursed him and looked over him closely, he just loved Helena and the other cats a lot. I mean, this little guy loved being in the middle of a cuddle party. If there was a cat sleeping, he'd just jump on top or in the middle of them and make himself at home.



I could tell that his eye issues from probably being out there for so long were a problem. It could be viewed that he constantly. had a little bit of twitchy eye situation going on and he would get very crusty eyes. Even more so, has always had upper respiratory issues. His nose would get booger filled like crazy.

I had taken him to the vet at least 4 times through the course of his life. One of which was basically a week long stay to cure him. He had major problems breathing when it came to his nose. I don't know what caused it, but hey, he wasn't suppose to last 5 weeks originally. He was 10 when he finally went in his sleep.

I knew that the death of Helena would be the worst thing to happen to Fred. She was his mother for the most part and he was constantly attached to the hip to her where ever she went. He really loved her to the very end. Her passing sent him on a little bit of a dive and he went into hiding into the crawl spaces where I couldn't find him for days. He finally showed up completely covered in dust and gunk. It was strange and I tried to clean him up. I knew that was going to wreck his breathing issues already.

The night before I found him dead I picked him up and gave him some petting. Tried to gauge how much weight he lost, it felt like a bit because he would still drink water, but just seemed too sad to eat. Or who knows. I honestly don't know what did him in. I can only guess. But I cleaned him up and then he went upstairs. That was the last time I saw him alive.

I found him sleeping peacefully and well, he just went out that way. I'm not sure if the breathing issues just took over with the grief of Helena's passing and not eating to have the strength to keep fighting. Snotty remains on the box he was sleeping in. 

I buried him next to Helena. I told myself that when it was his time that I would do just that. He loved Helena and I'm sure losing his segregate mother last week was not good for his moral and his.. I don't know. I have been taking care and fostering cats for more than 10 years now, feeding strays daily and I constantly drive around with a can of cat food in the car and as much as I observe about cats, the less I fully understand about them.

I mean, to be honest, Fred had so many years added to his life. When I first found him, I doubted he would last five weeks with his issues. Over the years he did not find a forever home with someone else because for the majority of the 10 years he lived, he was not a fan of people. He loved cats, but he would be very strange around people. Over the last few years he really warmed up to me. Especially after I took him to the vet the last time when he stayed for a week.

I'll miss the little guy. I loved him very much and I'm glad he was able to find happiness in other cats and in his later years, get the attention from me that he appreciated in butt scratches.  


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