On Wednesday we had to put our beloved Bubi to rest. He was only 6 years old.
Five days prior we first noticed that he snubbed his food, although his sister Susie showed no such signs of refusal to that particular menu. That's not really unusual, since cats often skip meals or change their preferences. However, he was obviously not feeling well. He did drink some water, but vomited it all out again a few hours later. We thought it might just be a momentary malaise.
The next day the same thing happened all over again, and he was obviously not feeling well and was already appearing to be lethargic. We called a weekend veterinarian and agreed to watch him one more day, before taking him to the animal clinic.
But there was no improvement, and we brought him to the doctor. He was examined and X-rayed, but nothing could be found. He hadn't swallowed any alien objects, and there were anomalies to his inner organs. He got shots against nausea and one to booster his appetite. We agreed that he'd have to be brought back, if his condition didn't improve.
It didn't improve at all, although he no longer vomited water, but he didn't drink any more either. He was more apathetic than before. He would constantly sit and stare, and every hour he'd change to one of his favorite places in our apartment, making short stops to his feeding place, but only staring at the food and water bowels. Susie had become a bit aggressive to him, occasionally hissing at him, probably because he smelled of medicine and kept ignoring her. Like me, she'd check on him every so often, all through the night.
So, on Monday, we finally brought Bubi to our regular veterinarian; she hadn't been available on the weekend, we had thought, but had been wrong. Nevertheless, we had more confidence in her skills. She couldn't tell what was wrong, but told us that he was definitely very ill. She kept him over the afternoon, gave him an infusion, since his body was already all dried out and made a blood test. In the evening she discussed the results with us, which were not at all good. All his blood values were way over the top, most alarmingly for the kidneys. Several organs had already failed to function, and she diagnosed a gastrointestinal infection, so he was multimorbid, i.e. having several illnesses at the same time.
We agreed to bring him back for more infusions for the next two days, and did so the very next day: early morning to the doctor and at noon picking him up again. Although the infusions should have improved his constitution, it didn't. It rather got worse. Every so often, I found him with saliva hanging out of the corners of his mouth in strings. He surprisingly joined me in the bathroom, but didn't react at all, not an inch, not a shrug, when a large towel fell on him.
I discussed the situation with Ursula, and we agreed to talk with the doctor the next morning, before giving him another infusion. He hadn't eaten, slept or even gone to the toilet for four days, no purring and hardly any reaction to us or his sister Susie. He simply ignored her hissing into his face.
The next morning I talked to the doctor and asked, what the prospects were. She assumed he could have a tumor and after improvement of his condition, we might consider an operation. But she agreed that it was impossible with his current condition and that it would be best to put him to rest. We buried him in a friend's garden, where our previous cats lay as well.
This has been a particularly harrowing experience for us, since Bubi was so young, and his condition really changed from one minute to the next. Friday morning he didn't eat, but he was still his quirky, happy-go-lucky self. We have lost cats before, and it's always horrible to lose a family member, but at least they all had lived to a full cat's age.
We got Bubi and Susie six years ago as kittens from the local animal shelter. At first they were very shy and soon found themselves some hiding places. Susie was always the domineering one, and quickly joined into our life, while Bubi remained extremely shy and for weeks kept in hiding. He did occasionally pop his head out of a book shelve or another secret hideout, and when he assumed I was asleep at night he'd sneak onto my bed and dash off in an instance when I'd wake up. Or at night he'd secretly have playful kitten fights with Susie, like little dinosaurs, right in front of my bed.
Years later, cleaning up our bookshelves, we found a collection of toys he had hidden behind the books to keep them for himself from Susie. Actually, we found another little collection now, after cleaning up his favorite spots in the apartment.
Bubi remained the shy one, jumping to a hideout whenever our doorbell rang, but peeking in to check out who it was. Over time he'd have his favorite guest friends and roll around in joy when they came for a visit.
He became our beautiful beloved Bubi, who was always gentle and good-natured, quiet, but also lively, playful and mischievous. His favorite prank was to flush the toilet - and then run off, since he knew that was a no-no. He loved to hop on top of our high fridge, and watch us with an "you can't catch me here" attitude. He'd jump up in the morning roll around with joy, when he heard my alarm clock go off and was highly impatient till I finally got out of bed. He enjoyed our company and stayed near us in whatever room we would be. If you passed by him at one of his sleeping places, he'd give you a high five or a gentle head bump, he loved to hop on when Ursula was in bed and give her a loving stare, nearly nose to nose. Bubi was quite talkative, much more than Susie, and he gave me constant comments when I was cooking in the kitchen. Both Bubi and Susie would await me with anxiety, when they knew I was coming home from work.
Busi was therefore a full family member and obviously enjoyed his life. I've always admired how cats can sleep with such visible contentment, and Bubi always slept like that. We say how much we love our pets, but it's the full, unconditional love they give us that counts. Bubi gave us all that love.
I don't believe in the supernatural at all, especially not in ghosts. But now that Bubi is no longer here, the notion that he's still around doesn't fade. I keep unconsciously checking out his favorite spots with my eyes when I enter a room, and I flinch whenever I hear something in our apartment. But it isn't Bubi, of course, but it'll take quite a while till that notion disappears.
