Our Decade With Marley...

Our orange tabby Marley died this morning.  While it was not a sudden passing, he declined pretty quickly.  We first noticed he had lost considerable weight only a week ago, but for a week or two previously seemed lethargic without much appetite.  We got him into the vet quickly last Tuesday, and they kept him for a few days for some X-rays, blood tests and IV fluids.  We got him back Friday and saw he had continued his slide - he could hardly stand and we were syringe feeding him to try to get some food in him.  Another quick trip to the vet on Saturday before they were unavailable for the weekend brought a slight change in meds, including some for pain.  Mostly he sat near us through the day.  Melinda had a bit of a cold and sore throat, so stayed home from work and stayed up with him Saturday night, waking me at 5am to tell me he had stopped breathing and had died quietly.  The cause remains undiagnosed...

Marley came to us as a kitten in the summer of 2001 - Vicki, who was volunteering for some local animal rescue groups rescued him from his foster home.  Evidently there was a flea infestation and this little kitten had gotten ODed on flea powder and could hardly stand.  Fortunately he recovered without any problems, and grew into the greatest cat.  He was quite trusting in us and waited patiently for his lap time - 3 or 4 of our cats rotate through their turns with mom and dad nearly every night and he always enjoyed his owners' attention.  At bedtime he rushed to be in place on my side of the bed as we drifted off to sleep together, always managing to leave wet spots on me or my blankets from his happy drooling.  But despite wanting to spend time with us, he also spent a lot of time with Lance, who entered our household about the same time.  Lance was very shy and set up residence in our garage and seemed happy alone, but on most nights Marley stayed by his side - his only friend among all the cats.  We didn't see any change in Marley's behavior after Lance's passing this Spring, though he continued to eat at the spot he shared with him for years...

The pictures above are taken in 2008 when Marley accompanied me on my cross-country drive to Illinois and our 5 month stay there while Melinda and I married.  He was an OK traveler, but a most excellent cat when it came to personality and his desire to spend time with his humans.  He will be missed...