Cats of DOOM

[Greg]

Fat Fergus the Fearless was the OG Feral cat. He is the last remaining cat from the litter born in my Montecito Heights garage about eleven years ago. He outlived the other members by many years. They fell prey I believe to our neighborhood coyotes. One might still be alive as we adopted that cat out. Mama Freeloader, the mother of the litter is still with us. Fergus almost didn't make the trip to Los Angeles because he escaped as we tried to get him into the cat carrier, something he did not approve of. I spent the night in a furniture-less house trying to capture him. Eventually, he was coaxed into the carrier and we brought him north.

Fergus and Mama spent their lives in the garage of Lynch Lair, the garage door cracked open to allow them full time access. They did not like the advent of the many new cats vying for the attention of their humans and pretty much kept to themselves. They were fed separate from the others because of their place atop the feline hierarchy. Although the other cats would occasionally intrude into their garage domain, they were quickly sent on their way. Only Fainí, the other cat without a pack, is sort of allowed into garage.

Fergus would mainly keep to himself, getting a bit more skittish in his old age. He would accept pets once he came to the conclusion you weren't a threat. He did love the pickup and would dig his claws deep into your shoulders to announce his pleasure. The Queen and I both have holes in our shoulders from this treatment. Fergus loved to meet us at the end of the day when we would go out into the back area to take our sunset photos, our daily goodnight ritual. It's the reason why Fergus is in so many of our sunset shots.

But I kind of last track of him in the last couple of months. Blue cloudless skies don't make for the best pictures so I don't go out as often. I would see Fergus around but he would shy away from me and many times I didn't feel like chasing him. This last week I would see him atop this desk in the garage in a spot next to a window. I'd see him there and assume he was all right. When I went to pet him on Friday, I finally discovered Fergus was not all right. He felt boney. He wasn't his usual fat self. I could feel his bony spine through his fur. I was concerned but not super concerned. I brought him some treats to get him to eat. He had a hard time choking them down. My concern level went up another notch.

All day Sunday, Fergus lay on the concrete in the middle of the garage. He was no longer on his spot atop the desk. Looking back, I assume he no longer had the energy to make the jump. I brought him wet food and water to feed him. He gave a few licks but that was all. I was happy to see him eat but I would have been happier to see him eat more. I talked to the Queen about getting him to the vet on Tuesday to get him checked out.

On July 4th, Fergus's health became really bad. He ignored the food and water. But he disappeared into the yard so we kind of thought he would be okay until Tuesday. Plus, I was dealing with my own health issues. Late in the afternoon, Fergus returned to garage. When I went to him, he made pitiful meows and made this terrible sound when he breathed. The Queen asked the question and I answered in the affirmative and we were off to the vet on a late July 4th Monday. Naturally our normal vet was closed so we had to make the drive to the Emergency Vet Hospital in Fresno. And it wasn't even the first choice hospital. When I called our vet they recommended their preferred Fresno Emergency Hospital. When I called them they said their vet was heading into surgery and there would be a three hour wait before the vet could even see anyone. We opted for choice 2. We had been to this vet before when we first moved in and Maeve had problems. It was another expensive emergency.

To be honest, I didn't think Fergus was going to survive the drive. He looked terrible. The way we could tell he was alive was we could hear his awful breathing. To be honest again, it probably would have been better if he had died in the car. It would have saved us a fortune. But you have to do everything for your pets if it will help them. The vet immediately brought Fergus into the back upon arrival. They would do nothing until the Queen gave them the big retainer.

After checking Fergus out and putting him in an oxygen chamber, they brought the Queen and I into an examination room. Which was good. I was tired of looking at the blood stains on the floor of the waiting room. The emergency vet was not in a great part of town. Our first decision was to take x-rays to see what was going on. The x-rays revealed a lot of fluid in Fergus's lungs. This was the source of the breathing problems. To find the source of the fluids, we had to do a blood test. If the blood test revealed heart disease, Fergus was done. If it was infection, he could be treated. Well, it wasn't heart disease. But the infection was so far advanced his body was already done and there was nothing the vet could do to help him. The Queen and I made the decision to euthanize our boy.  At about 6:30, Fergus was no more.

I believe when we first walked in, the Vets knew the outcome of this visit. But they had to let us go through the motions of x-rays and blood tests. But they knew there was only way for this to end.

I do kick myself that if I had spotted Fergus's weight loss earlier I might have done something earlier. But I did not.

Fergus was a very good boy. The first to break the no cats in the house rule and he did it with impunity. He will be missed.