Alex on the left, Louis on the Right
This has been a very difficult month in our household.
I won't go into all the details here, but our cat Alex, went into heart failure about a month ago. We rushed him to emergency vet care and stabilized him after a scary 2 day hospital stay. The past month he's alternatively gotten better and worse and not a week's gone by without us having to take him in unscheduled.
Finally, we took him in Monday evening. He was very weak and didn't look good. He was very dehydrated, and we hoped this was responsible for how weak he seemed to be. Sadly, he passed the next morning around 6am.
Alex was one of our three, now two, cats, along with his brother Louis and (step)-sister Rewind. Rewind had been my first cat, and I lived with her for two or three years before I moved in with my now-wife-then-girlfriend, Janessa. Janessa already had Alex and Louis, so Rewind made three.
Alex and Louis were from the same litter. They are brothers by blood. They were abandoned as kittens, and Janessa adopted them when they were only a few weeks old. Not surprisingly, they grew quite attached to Janessa. That's an understatement, really. They love her more than anything in the world, of that I'm sure. I've never seen either of them happier than when they are close to her. When she is away and comes back, they hear her car, know its her and come racing for the door almost immediately - no matter what they're doing. Nothing was more important than Mommy time.
Alex and Louis were the cutest couple of cats you could ever imagine together. They used to curl up into a sweet ball, laying their heads near each others in perfect repose. They would also clean each other. And of course, like all brothers, they would fight, mostly in play, neither ever getting hurt beyond a bruise or scratch.
But, about Alex.
When I first met this wild furry tabby, I'll admit that I was a bit perplexed about why his momma was so crazy for him. Alex did not like me one bit. I was confused. Cats had always gotten on with me well. I'd felt a natural connection to them long before I had Rewind. Well, with Alex, we soon deduced that he saw me as competition for momma time! He would hiss at me a fair bit, and many times when I tried to pet him he'd swipe at me with his claws out. Janessa kept telling me he'd do that to her too, and maybe there was some truth to it, but not nearly as much as he did it to me!
Not only that but Alex was the most anxious cat I've ever seen. He was always nervous about something, but it was hard to figure out what. Cats have it so easy, especially in a house where they are loved. I nicknamed him "Tweak" because he always seemed tweaked out.
Alex was also the least graceful cat I've ever seen. You know that "cats always land on their feet" thing? Nonsense. It may be true of some cats, but not Alex! He would flop all over the place. Sometimes, he'd flop on the kitchen counter only to realize at the last minute that he was too far near the edge and slide right off. He'd always have this great look of surprise on his face. It reminded me of those Road Runner cartoons where the Coyote would hang in the air for just a second before falling with this look like "Whaaaa?" Alex also had a penchant for flopping onto his little brother when they were cuddled close together. Poor Louis! Alex was about 14 pounds and his brother was closer to 11.
Alex eventually warmed up to me, but I stress the word "eventually." It took around two years, but we finally made a connection last year. Part of it was my fault, I discovered, as I hadn't been approaching him correctly. He responds really well to soft pets, and I was used to harder pets, which is what Rewind really liked most of the time. With that knowledge, and the self-awareness to only try to approach him when he seemed calmer, we ultimately built a rapport.
Alex was at his sweetest at the same time every night, right around 7, when we were eating dinner. Around 8:30pm, all three cats would get the crazies and go into nocturnal mode, but, right before then they were at their most content. I suspect some of that had to do with Janessa and I being home for the day. Anyway, Alex would turn into the sweetest most gentle kitty I'd ever seen around then. He would lay comfortably, sometimes with his front paws tucked under his chin, looking at peace with the world and everyone in it. Even when I, his hated rival, would pet him he would purr softly, his eyes 3/4 closed in what Janessa describes as a kitty smile.
The more I saw of this side of Alex, the more I began to understand him. He was just a big scaredy-cat (literally!) In truth, he was at the bottom of the cat pecking order in our house (My imperious cat, Rewind, the strongest personality I've ever known, cat or person, was on top). And, as I said before, he was attached to his Momma like no other, even more than his brother, I think, albeit marginally. His favorite spot to be was clinging to her neck, purring at maximum volume and drooling all over Janessa. Oh yes, did he drool when he was happy. Gross, but cute.
Slowly, Alex and I found our way. Every night during the week, Janessa would go to sleep an hour or two before I did. Whenever I'd go to bed, there would be Alex, on my side, keeping it warm. I'd get in and he'd run away quickly. Toward the end, I'd try hard to get him to stay, petting him gently and rhythmically. He'd never stay for very long, but when I did that he might stay for a minute or two.
Alex also loved fresh, cold water, and would get very excited when the new water would get poured. I love water ice cold as well, possibly from living in Florida for so long. Anyway, I'd sometimes give him fresh water even when it had only been out for a little while just to make him happy. He'd do a little cute skip when he was excited, and I so enjoyed seeing that.
When we were going through the difficult process of getting Alex to and from the cardiologist, there was only one bright spot: Alex charmed everyone at the doctor's office. Not only did they tell us how much they loved him (which could have been them just being nice), but we heard them audibly say "Alex!" a few times when he was brought back unexpectedly. In the end, Alex was at his sweetest and most tender to everyone.
Alex was a member of our family and he is already deeply missed. It was an awful experience seeing him struggle, and I can't help but think that he's better off now, free of the pain and turmoil of being dragged back and forth to doctors and being poked and prodded, given pills, and all the other things he had to endure. Nevertheless, our house feels empty without him, and I think of him all the time. I love Alex with all my heart, and though I'm an atheist, I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that he's in a happier place, waiting for his family to join him in the end.
Rest in Peace, Alexander Lazon, we will love you forever.
