Babylon died today.

 

 

He left almost as quickly as he arrived back in my life.  He’s been acting pukey, which is normal after he eats a lizard.  Monday he vomited and usually that makes him feel better until the next time he eats a lizard.  Instead he started walking around hunched over, and disoriented.  In the 15 years he’s been here, I only dewormed him once, I think, so I gave him 0.6 ml of Proziquantel to kill any flukes he may have gotten.  He seemed better the next day, but last night he started acting weird again.  

 

This morning Howie called me into the kitchen because he wanted to show me that Babylon was really disoriented and had walked up and laid down in a corner of the kitchen with his nose tucked under the lip of the cabinets.  We called the vet and got an appointment for 11 am.  He didn’t appear to be in distress, so Howie started to work in the yard and I went about my morning chores.  When I popped back in to check on Babylon, his head was down flat on the floor; something he never does, so I reached down to pet him and was horrified to feel him so near death.  

 

I scooped him up as I turned to Howie and said, “I think he’s dead!”

 

Then I heard a breath and felt it.  I rushed him to the carrier Howie had prepared for later in the morning and Howie drove him to the vet at 8:48 am.  I was still in my PJs and didn’t want to slow them down.  When Howie got there they put Babylon on a heating pad, an IV and oxygen, but at 10 am Dr Wynn called to say that Babylon had diabetes and was only being kept alive due to life support.  His heart rate was dropping as she spoke and she didn’t see any way he was going to recover from this.  I told her to let him go peacefully.

 

We never had any idea he had diabetes.  We were managing his urinary track crystal issues all these years with a dry diet called Royal Canin Urinary SO.  Babylon wouldn’t eat raw meat diets, or wet cat food.  He’d have an occasional bite of tuna or salmon, and had drank a bowl of salmon juice last night that he really enjoyed.  He wouldn’t make a meal of fish either though.  Had I known he was diabetic, there wouldn’t have been anything we could do to manage him so I guess ignorance was bliss. 

 

Babylon was dumped at Big Cat Rescue’s front gate, in a pet carrier, at the edge of death from a blockage back in 2003.  I suspect his owner couldn't afford the vet costs, nor the expensive diet he required. He was black and white tuxedo cat, but clearly had Siamese genes due to his loud and continuous vocalizations.  

 

He got his name because the first time I saw him I exclaimed, out loud, "I haven't seen you since Babylon!"

 

Everyone in the room turned to look at me, wondering what the Hell that outburst was about.  I didn’t care.  I was just so happy to see my precious soul mate all these eons later.  He was laying on the corner of a desk, with an IV hanging from above giving him fluids.  We had locked eyes the minute I walked in and in addition to not knowing what I was babbling on about, the people in the room noticed their patient seemed to have emerged from death’s door to raise his head.

 

Howie and I already had Sidney and Garfield and I resisted asking to bring Babylon home...briefly... I was so thankful that Howie was OK with it as he’s the one who always feeds the cats, cleans their litter boxes, and is home with them all day.  We were remodeling the gift shop by taking the remaining offices and turning them into display space.  That meant Babylon couldn’t stay in the office any longer.  I didn’t have any office space that wasn’t in the middle of all that chaos, so he needed to find a new home.  He made that home with Howie and I on the island. 

 

Today, as I was digging his grave, overlooking Rocky Creek near where Catera Bobcat used to live, I reached out across the ether to him and vowed we would meet again and again and again.