Well, it has been a tough few months in my house. First we lose Eli and then just a few months later our 16 year old cat Marshall had to be put to sleep.
Marshall was our very first “kid.” We rescued Marshall from the Anti-Cruelty Society shelter right after we moved to Chicago. He was named after my favorite Supreme Court Justices (yes, I’m a dork but I was also just starting my first year of law school). In fact, we had Marshall before our bed even arrived and for the first few nights, he would sleep on the floor in between Stacey and I. We were very lucky to get him. It was discovered in the shelter that he had an upper respiratory infection and if he had not been adopted the day we did, the shelter would have likely put him to sleep that night. So, at about 5-6 weeks old, we had him home for maybe two days before he had to go into the hospital. That was alright though as he made it through and began his journey with us that would see him survive additional pets, a move across the country stuck in a car with Eli and our other cat Hearsay, the birth of our daughters, and numerous other trials and tribulations.
Marshall was, from the beginning, Stacey’s big baby. When we first got him, he was a tiny little kitty with giant ears and a long tail. We knew that he would be a big cat and we were right. He would routinely top out at over 16 pounds and whenever we had a new vet, we invariably would get the “We’re going to need to talk about a diet for your fat cat” talk from the vet before they saw him. We would try and explain that he wasn’t fat, just big to which we would always get the skeptical “Sure Whatever” look from the vet. That is, until they say him and then we would get the “Wow, that’s just a big cat” exclamation from the vet. Marshall’s tail alone was 14 inches long and he had a nice long stride.
Unlike a lot of cats, Marshall certainly reflected his owners. He was, by no means, a “graceful” cat and would frequently slip of miss a jump (kinda clutzy like us). It just added to his charm.
Marshall was many things, but most of all, he was a talker and a big baby. He would love to sit and meow and meow from the other room just to hear us respond to him and he never shied away from “uppy time” with Stacey.
Despite being a big baby, he was also a good big brother to Hearsay, our second cat. We rescued Hearsay a year after Marshall. Now, as big as Marshall became, Hearsay is the exact opposite having never grown beyond six pounds. She is a petite girl who, when she was a kitten, would follow Marshall around and he would show her the ropes. There were many times when Hearsay would find herself stuck on top of kitchen cabinets and it would be up to Marshall to either walk her down or, on a few occasions, he actually came into the living room to fetch us to help her. He was her guardian angel. Hearsay misses him in a terrible way. They were the perfect pair opposites that attracted. One of their favorite past times was to “hunt” the taxis from the windows of our apartments in Chicago. Being a city cat didn’t stop him from trying to capture the elusive prey, even if it was a Yellow Cab.
When Eli came into our lives, Marshall wasn’t sure what to make of the big disorganized mess that was Eli. Eli was loud, annoying, and basically the bane of Marshall’s existence. However, over time, he learned to tolerate Eli and while they were never “friends,” they did share one important responsibility. Both took to watching over Shelby when she was born in 2000. It wasn’t unusual to find them both in her room making sure no harm to the baby. Marshall loved Shelby (as long as she was asleep).
As time went on, we noticed that his back leg wasn’t working as well as it had in the past and that he was having more difficulty in cleaning his back. However, he adapted and it never really slowed him down and he managed to learn to jump and move about without restriction. One day, Stacey took him to the vet for a possible cracked tooth. They did some routine blood work and we discovered that he had the onset of kidney failure. Well, we monitored the situation; had him in for additional workups, etc. Given his age, i wasn’t unusual and we just plugged ahead. He never really seemed to let anything bother him and he never whined or complained. Over the next several months he would start getting different foods to try and help and we began our daily routine of giving him IV fluids. However, he wasn’t getting better and he just kept losing weight.
Despite all this, he remained active and didn’t seem to be losing a step even though his other back leg started giving him trouble he still managed to walk and jump and even sometimes play. However, every time we had him checked, his kidney values were worse and we knew it was just a matter of time.
We went away for a few days back to Ohio and checked Marshall into the vet. He was fine and moving around. We had a talk with the vet and just asked him to make sure Marshall made it through the weekend. Our daughters were staying in Ohio and we had them say goodbye just in case.
Well, Marshall made it through the weekend although by the time we got home he had gone downhill faster than I thought possible. The vet said his body temperature was so low that it was a bit surprising he was still alive. He had basically stopped eating and wasn’t really moving around and had begun to lose bladder control. The change was so dramatic that it really surprised me.
Stacey and I took him home and honestly didn’t expect him to make it though the night. We wanted him to be comfortable and in familiar surroundings. Well, Stacey keep him on her lap all night and the next morning, we knew that we had to make another tough decision. There was no way we were going to leave him all alone at home and we knew that he wasn’t going to get any better as he had always done over the past few months. We called the vet and took him right back in. The vet took us into the same room where we had taken Eli and as we were sitting waiting, Marshall tried to purr and was so content in Stacey’s lap.
Almost at the same exact hour that we lost Eli, Marshall slipped away. It was especially difficult because he was our first and for so long he was our kid. He loved to sleep at Stacey’s head and she would wake up all the time because he would be chewing on her hair. He loved to be petted and never missed an opportunity to lay on top of my chair which was in convenient reach of my hand. His favorite past time as a kitten and young cat was to chase the plastic rings that came on gallons of milk. He would chase and chase them. He never had much a love for other “cat” toys, but give that cat a milk ring and he was in heaven.
So now I’m confident that Eli has shown Marshall all around and Marshall is living it up, unencumbered by bag legs or failing kidneys, chasing milk rings all over heaven. He was the perfect first pet and a great companion for 16 years. I just hope he enjoyed his time with us as much as we loved having him in our lives.
