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Scrub Hanging Out

Scrub was our cat and he was a terrific cat.  Sadly, on May 19th, 2009 we had to let him go.  This was an extremely difficult decision; one which my wife and I agonized over for quite some time.  For anyone who’s ever loved a pet who has died, you know what I’m talking about.  My wife had Scrub for 13 years, ever since he was a kitten.  I met my wife in 2001 and Scrub has always been a part of our relationship.   He got the name “Scrub” because when he was a kitten his fur was so puffy and spiky my wife thought he looked like a Brillo pad; hence the name “Scrub”.

Scrub’s troubles started around 2003-2004.  He had an insatiable thirst.  He was drinking all the water in his bowl and he began hanging around the tub and the sinks.  Of course, his litter box also reflected that.  His eating increased and he began to have short bouts of vomiting.  We brought him to the vet, and after several tests we learned that Scrub was diabetic.  Diabetes is not terribly unusual in cats and in many cases can be managed successfully through insulin and a prescription diet.

For a long time we were able to manage his diabetes quite well.  We got very good at testing his blood sugar levels (curves) and working with the vet to ensure he had the proper dosage based on the results.  We got his insulin from a compounding pharmacy and because compounding pharmacies make the insulin on site, we made it a point to check his levels after each new batch we received (once every 3 months or so).  For his food, we gave him Hill’s feline W/D (he especially liked the chicken flavor).

Dave and Scrub

Beginning in November of 2008, Scrub had a checkup with the vet.  They discovered he had a urinary tract infection.  Now, we noticed that Scrub had been drinking more water than usual for about a week.  But it wasn’t terribly concerning because we had seen this from time to time with his diabetes.  We checked his blood sugar levels and all was normal.  But excessive drinking of water is also a symptom of a UTI; one that we had passed off as a symptom of his diabetes.  We were wrong.  Luckily, our vet was astute enough to catch our error and discovered his infection, giving him an antibiotic in the form of a shot.

During our visit with the vet, he also noticed that Scrub was a little heftier than he should be (by about a pound) and he suggested we switch to a Purina product that has more protein in it.  He cited a study which concluded that cats will eat until they reach a certain level of protein.  The higher protein food meant he would eat less making it easier to control his weight.  Scrub accepted the new food but towards the end of November he began to vomit daily — sometimes 2 or 3 times a day.  We were obviously concerned so we checked his sugar level and it was normal.  Heartened slightly by that, we thought it may be hairballs because there were masses of fur in his vomit.

With some suggestions from the vet, we tried some over-the-counter hairball medicine and we tried putting some cod liver oil on his food.  Neither worked.  We called the vet back who felt it could be the new food and wrote us a prescription for the Hills M/D a similar food to the Purina high protein but it was a Hills product and Scrub had been eating the Hills feline W/D for years with no issues.  This didn’t help either.  By now, Scrub was vomiting 3 to 5 times a day.  He was getting dehydrated, we were getting nervous, and our carpet was getting destroyed.

We brought Scrub back to the vet.  He was very weak and dehydrated at this point.  He wound up staying with the vet for 2 days.  Knowing that Scrub was diabetic, our vet suspected he may have pancreatitis, and she was right.  The numbers for his pancreas were off the chart; he was clearly suffering from this.  We got a prescription for Cerenia (an anti-nausea medication), prednisone, mirtazapine (appetite stimulant), and leukeran.

While the Cerenia helped a great deal, Scrub was still vomiting occasionally but what really concerned us was he began to vomit blood.  He also stopped eating, which is never, ever a good sign.  Well, it was back to the vet yet again.  The vet did a blood test which was able to determine his red blood cell count.  The cell count was low compared to the same test done only a month earlier.  The vet believed this indicated he was bleeding internally somewhere.  Because he was vomiting so frequently  and because he had been taking prednisone, the vet made a good guess that an ulcer was the likely culprit.  He told us to stop using the prednisone.  He also prescribed a pill that we had to crush and mix with water to make a slurry and give it orally to Scrub twice a day using a large plastic syringe.

Scrub In The Window

Getting Scrub to take the slurry proved to be an extremely challenging two person operation — one person to hold him down and one person to squirt the slurry in his mouth.  We could have used a third person to hold the towel because there was a good chance slurry was going to get everywhere.  Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Scrub stopped vomiting blood and began eating again.  The slurry worked.

We went back to the vet two weeks later as a follow up to the ulcer treatment and the blood test indicated his levels were back to normal.  We talked to the vet at length about different options.  We discussed getting a biopsy to see if there was cancer growing in him.  While my wife and I considered it, we thought the risks probably outweighed the gains.  We had him on leukeran and if there was cancer, our treatment wouldn’t have changed.  With that being said, it really made no sense to open him up and expose him to possible complications and infections if it wasn’t going to change our treatment.  It was also very expensive.  We would have gladly paid it, but again where was the benefit?

It was at this point we began to talk with the vet about managing his illness.  I was actually a bit surprised when, at the end of the discussion, the vet brought up the topic of euthanasia.  I was thinking I could manage this for three or four years.  No problem!   Scrub was only 12 and I felt like he had a lot of life left in him.  Little did I know it was only a matter of months.  Apparently, the vet’s experience in these cases was probably the reason he brought the topic up for discussion.

It was clear that Scrub’s health was beginning to go downhill.  It was a very slow but noticeable progression.  He didn’t like to play as much as he did before.  He no longer jumped on our bed to wake us up.  He began to hide for good parts of the day either in the closet or under the beds.  Eventually, he began to stop eating.  At first, he would go a day without eating.  Then we would try and switch up his food or the location of the bowls.  Every time we got him to eat we had this hope that perhaps he was coming around and he would start getting better.  This was a false hope.

Over time his condition got to the point where he would no longer go upstairs.  His legs seemed wobbly and he couldn’t even jump onto the couch.  He lost a tremendous amount of weight and he spent his days hiding behind the wine cabinet in the living room.  It was a Sunday when my wife and went for a walk to decide what we should do.  It was very sad but we could no longer watch him struggle.  His quality of life was very low, he hadn’t eaten for days and it was clear he was in pain.  As much as we wanted to keep him with us, we chose to allow him a quick and peaceful death rather than a long tormented one.  It was the only thing left we could do to express our love to him.

Scrub In His Better Days

Scrub passed away peacefully while my wife and I held him in our arms, petting him and talking to him.  It was terribly sad, but there was also a sense of relief; relief that Scrub was no longer languishing in his pain.

It’s amazing how such a simple little cat was able to evoke such intense thoughts and emotions in those who loved him.  He made us think about life and death, love and compassion, and the existence of the soul.   Scrub was a wonderful and amazing cat.  He was a great companion; full of love and always willing to share it.  We miss him tremendously. Now he’s free.

I started this article wanting to celebrate Scrub so I want to close by sharing some facts and short stories about him.  He was a very laid back cat with a terrific demeanor.  He was almost impossible to anger, and very quick to forgive if we did anger him.  Cats have a reputation for being conceited, but Scrub was not like that.  He was the only cat I knew that would come when you called his name.  Although strangers made him nervous, he loved to be around my wife and I, always inserting himself between us whenever he had the chance.  Sometimes I think he believed he was a person (in a cat’s body).  Even towards the end when he was in tremendous pain and it was difficult for him to walk, he would try to come over and try to jump up on to the couch to be with us.  I hope the following facts and stories give you a little insight into Scrub’s character.

• He was a turkey and chicken eating machine.  We couldn’t eat a turkey sub without him showing up begging for some turkey.  Of course, we had to be careful what we gave him because of his diabetes but we found it hard to resist his pleas for just a little taste.
  

  Scrub In His Spot On The Bed Next To Me

• He would chase shoe laces and laser dots relentlessly.  He never could seem to capture that laser dot no matter how hard he tried.
• Sometimes he would stand on the edge of the tub and swat at the water while you were taking a shower.
• You could always tell if Scrub was cold… just look for the lump in the bed (or under the dirty clothes in the closet).
• Occasionally if he was feeling playful, he would ambush your ankle as you walked by.
• My wife has long black hair.  Scrub seemed to think it made a great pillow.  On many occasions I would get up for work in the morning and Scrub would be sleeping comfortably on my wife’s head.
• When Scrub first came into my house I thought I would give him a bath.  I never owned a cat so I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal.  I was wrong.  After filling the tub up, I brought Scrub over and placed him in.  He immediately jumped about 4 feet and launched out of the tub faster than ever.  When I caught up to him he was hiding under my bed.  I peeked underneath just long enough to see him hiss at me.  It was an awkward way to start our relationship, but he soon got over it.  I never tried to give him a bath again.
  

  Scrub Getting Fresh Air

• I think one of Scrubs greatest qualities was his intelligence.  When we lived in our apartment we used to keep his litter box in the closet because there wasn’t really any great place to keep it.  We also had one of those rubber pads in front of the litter box to catch any material that might have been on his paws after using it.  We left the door to the closet open all the time so Scrub could come and go as he pleased.
  One day the door accidentally got closed.  Rather than do his business on the floor, he reached his paw under the door, grabbed the corner of the rubber mat that was in front of his litter box, pulled it out from in the closet and did his business on that.  Some people aren’t that smart.

Scrub, we miss you and will always love you!