The Naughty Boys- Tuxedo and Funny-Face
I'd better explain some of the later pictures of Tuxedo. I lost both Tuxedo and his brother, Funny-Face, to Chronic Renal Failure otherwise called CRF. It is a common ailment for elderly cats and although there is no cure for it, the progression of it can be slowed down greatly. The earlier CRF is caught, the better it is for your cat, which is why it is extremely important to take your cat in for regular check-ups. Cats don't begin to show signs of CRF until they have lost more than 70% of their kidney function. I knew nothing about CRF until Tuxedo started to lose weight rapidly. Each cat can have different symptoms, even cats that are related, like Tuxedo and Funny-Face. The disease wasted away Tuxedo's body until he was skin and bone. Funny-Face on the other hand, looked great. At the end of this story, I have a link that will take you to an excellent website about Feline CRF.
Tuxedo and Funny-Face were the offspring of my high school boyfriend's family cat. I was particularly excited for their birth because Della had said she was pretty sure the neighbor's black and white cat was the father. One evening, all of us were in the living room watching T.V. when a tiny wet newborn came crawling out from under the couch. We pulled the couch away from the wall to put Tuxedo back with his Mom and so we could keep an eye on Mama Kitty just in case something went wrong. She ended up having three black and white males, one female, and one gray and white male. I practically lived at their house so I was able to spend most of my time with the kittens. One kitten in particular claimed me as his favorite person. Funny-Face would sit on the banister and wait for me to come over after school. As soon as I walked through the door, he would fly at me and land on my shoulder, where he would sit until I left to go home. His nickname was Traitor because when I wasn't around, he would rub up against whoever was there and beg for attention. After I showed up, he had no time for anyone else. If someone went to pet him while he was sitting on my shoulder, he'd lean away from them as far as he could. He perfected the art of charging the door as soon as it was opened and got so good at it, a lot of the times, people didn't even know he had ran past them to get outside. Once he got outside, he headed straight for a big bush that grew on the side of the house. He knew nobody could reach him there. Once he was under the bush, he wouldn't budge for bribes or water. They had to call me up to come over and get him back inside. It was a little flattering that this little cat liked me so much, I was the only person who could get him to come out from the bush. All I had to do was say "Where is my little baby?" and he'd come trotting out of the bush with his tail high in the air.
Mama Kitty
I moved out on my own shortly after graduating from high school and Funny-Face was officially given to me as a housewarming present, leaving Tuxedo the only kitten left out of the litter. The other three were claimed and taken to their new homes that same week. Neither Funny-Face nor I slept very good that night. He was missing his mom and brother and made sure everyone on Main Street knew about it. It was pretty amazing how something that small could make such a big noise! Tuxedo didn't do much better his first night as an only child. He spent the night walking around, calling for his missing brother. He was so lost and lonely without Funny-Face, he made all of us feel horrible. I'll never forget how his little face lit up when I opened my apartment door and Funny-Face greeted him. Whatever scientist it was that said animals don't have real emotions must have had his head so far up his rear, he couldn't see anything. There was no mistaking the pure joy my cats felt when they met up.
First Apartment
Tuxedo
Funny-Face
I don't know how cats got the reputation of being solitary and aloof animals because these two certainly weren't. The loved attention from me and each other. Both boys would sit in the window and watch for me to come home from work so they could be at the door when I opened it to welcome me home. No matter how bad my day was or how many people I managed to piss off, they were always excited to see me come home and that felt so good! I miss seeing their little faces pressed against the window, waiting to greet me when I walk through the door.
Tuxedo was an unusual male when it came to kittens. Occasionally, I'd end up with a kitten or two at my place, sometimes sitting for a friend out of town or fostering rescue kittens. Tuxedo loved kittens. By the end of the first day with a new kitten, Tuxedo was their best friend. He loved to play with them and snuggle with them during naps. A feral cat had a litter of kittens in my sister's horse barn and a tom cat had found the litter and was in the process of eliminating them when my sister showed up to feed the horses. There were two survivors, both females. Ideally, they were too young to be taken away from Mom but old enough to be able to eat solid foods and go to the bathroom on their own. Amy had her hands full with a new baby and a litter of orphaned newborn kittens that she had gotten from her mother-in-law because one of the feral cats they feed had given birth to her first litter in the garage, then abandoned them. Anyway, Tuxedo appointed himself to be their new mom and even went as far as allowing them to "nurse". You have no idea how strange it was to see a 14 pound male cat happily "nursing" a couple of kittens.
Tuxedo "nursing" foster kitten Spice
Funny-Face showing off his belly while Tuxedo watches
Funny-Face
Another thing that set my boys apart from the rest was that they were so well-behaved, I could take them for walks outside and not have to worry about them running off. The only time they left my side while outside was if they saw a bunny that was close enough to chase. Even then they still listened to me and would stop if I yelled NO. I never let my cats go outside without me or someone else to protect them. They were smart cats but the danger of disease, hit by a car, attacked by a dog, or tortured by a creepy loser wasn't a gamble I was willing to take with them. Did you know that the average life span of an outdoors cat is 5 years while an indoor cat's average life expectancy is 12 years, though it is becoming more and more common for indoor cats to live into their late teens thanks to better veterinary care and healthier diets.
Catnip grows wild where we live, so during the spring and summer months, I would pick catnip and bring it home for them. Funny-Face was never satisfied with his share of the catnip and would try to steal Tux's pile too. Tuxedo would walk over to his brother's pile and claim that, which of course sent Funny-Face running back to protect his stash from his brother. Both of them would end up laying on top of their pile of catnip to guard it from each other.
Tuxedo and Funny-Face loved to help with housework and volunteered whether I liked it or not. They made sure the laundry was properly coated in cat hair, helped with bed-making, and Tux especially loved to "help" me dry off after a shower. He would grab the towel, bat me on the head, then try to climb on the towel wrapped around my head. Funny-Face's specialty was making sure there were no unraveling threads on anything and nothing editable was left on the floor for ants to find. Funny-Face also loved to wear plastic bags; he would purposely put his head and one leg through the handle and wear it like a cape. If I cut the handles on the bag, he'd lose all interest in it. Before people send me comments about letting them play with plastic bags (I had their story posted at a cat site), I never let him play with the bags unless I was in the room with him and when I wasn't home, I made sure all bags were safely stuffed in a drawer that they couldn't get into.
Funny-Face sitting in a bag
Tuxedo helping with laundry
Funny-Face & Me
Tuxedo & Terry
Towards the end of 2005's summer, Tuxedo started to lose weight and his fur started to look clumpy. I took him to the vet where he was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. I was a little surprised that Tuxedo was the first one to get sick and that it was kidney related because of the two, he was the healthiest. Funny-Face was the one who had problems with his urinary tract, never Tux. The vet assured me that kidney failure is not painful and that there were things we could do to slow down the progression and buy some more time with him. As long as Tuxedo could wake up and enjoy the day, I saw no reason to put him to sleep. He wasn't hurting and treating him for kidney failure wasn't a painful ordeal for him to go through. Another thing that surprised me after Tuxedo got sick was how money-hungry people in our society is. I can count on one hand how many people asked how Tux was doing. If I had a dollar for every person who asked about how much it was costing me to care for Tuxedo and accused me of wasting money (my money) on him, I'd own my own island. I personally don't think a life should come with a price tag.
Looking back on it, my boys were lucky that, of all the problems elderly cats can get and eventually die from, they had CRF. It is not a painful thing, like cancer is, and it is a progressive disease that can be slowed down. After we were given the knowledge that Tuxedo was living on borrowed time, we made every day special. I took Tuxedo outside more often and sat out there with him for longer periods. I appreciated my time left with him more so than I would have had I not known he was so sick. I wanted Tux to know how much we loved him and to have his last memories of this world to be filled with the things he loved, like sitting in the sun.
On the last weekend of July, Tux started his final crash. He became very confused and wobbly. He stopped eating and I had to give water to him by spoon and hold his head up for him. I wanted so bad for him to die at home, safe and loved. I took him to his favorite sunning spot by our place and he slept. He he could barely pick his head up on his own but he would still open his eyes every so often and give me his lovey look and a some purrs. There was no way I could sleep while he was dying, so I stayed up all night holding him and talking to him. I took him outside all day Sunday as well in the hopes that he would let his failing body go. He slept like a stone when we were in that spot, but he still clung to life. Sunday afternoon, Tux became alert enough to eat some boiled chicken and let me know he wanted to go inside by trying to walk to the patio door himself. Sunday night, he went into shock under the couch. He couldn't hold water down and lost his sight. I sat up with him all night, holding him, rocking him, talking to him, letting him know I loved him so much. Monday morning came, and Tux was still alive but obviously miserable. The only thing left that could be done for him was to take him to his last visit with the doctor.
Funny-Face missed his brother fiercely at first and insisted on looking for him. He wanted me to take him to all of the spots Tux liked to sit when we were outside. He called and called for him while I followed behind, crying my eyes out. Living without Tux got easier for him as time passed, but I knew he missed his brother the entire two years he remained with us after Tux's death. For one thing, he had a habit of sitting in front of the full-length mirror and stared at himself for hours. He never did that before. Funny-Face developed Pancreatitis and had a tumor in his bladder that couldn't be operated on because of his other health issues. Like Tux, I cared for him and his problems until the day came when he could no longer live comfortably. He had started to throw up blood and had the constant urge to urinate from the tumor irritating his bladder. It was so bad, he wasn't even able to sleep longer than 10 minutes without having to get up and run to the box. I told Funny-Face that he was going to his very last doctor appointment and that his brother was waiting for him. Funny-Face was anesthetized first, then given the final shot. I hope the reunion with his brother was as joyous as it was 18 years ago in our first apartment together.
Below is the website I visited when my boys were diagnosed with CRF. I personally think it is the best website you can find on the internet for Feline CRF.
http://www.felinecrf.com
