The Life & Times Of Baggins Black Whiskers
Way back in the summer of 2004, I was lodging with a friend and came home from a meeting to find a young black cat sitting on the sofa. My friend said he'd jumped in the open window, and wouldn't leave ... Baggins Black Whiskers, Prowling in the fields, His life complete He was sat with his paws over the edge of the sofa, looking around, delighted to be the centre of attention. He was around 3 months old, and had lovely dark silver kitten stripes down the back of his head, and massive swivelly ears. Being into Lord of the Rings at the time, we named him Baggins!Despite us putting posters up around the estate, no one ever came to claim him, so a month later, we declared him to be ours and I took him to the vet to be chipped. I was going to move out a few weeks later and, after a few smelly toilet accidents, we decided he wasn't fully litter trained, so as I had wooden floors at my new place, I should take him. My other cat Megan, who was much older absolutely hated him!I'm not sure what the problem is with older female cats and younger male cats. It started when he went through puberty, so I guess his smell as he got older caused it. I remember when I went to work in the US and Megan and Baggins were sharing an outdoor pen at the Cattery. I was coming home the following week and Megan battered him, causing a cut above his eye that damaged his vision. Thankfully the Cattery was insured and they moved him to another pen until I got a new place sorted out so they had more room to avoid each other. As he got older, he got more chunky!In his prime, he was a pretty large boy. If another cat came into his territory he made certain they didn't come back and Megan chilled out a little as she grew into her old age. They didn't become friends, but he'd hunt and bring her mice to eat, so they did tolerate each other eventually. Baggins became my 'Peaceful Warrior'. He was a very chilled cat as he got into his second decade. Still chunky, but always relaxed and happy. He had one of the most resonant purrs I've ever heard and I loved putting my ear to his side and just listening to it. As time went by, he slowed down a lot!I have been living in Hanslope since 2013 and as Baggins aged, he started to slow down and get a bit skinny. He went out less and less, and he was eating a lot of food, but it wasn't maintaining his weight. He was certainly showing his age from around 16 years old and the vet prescribed Thyronorm for his weight management and Loxicom as he was diagnosed with arthritis. My beautiful boy was never completely housetrained. He used the litter tray to wee in, but always pooed just by it. Very smelly at times, especially when I needed a second litter tray in my bedroom as I'd just got Gimley, my new kitten, and was litter training him overnight. But the older he got, the more Thyronorm we needed. It helped, but the vet said his kidneys were on the way out so I should put out more water and remember to change the litter tray more often as Baggins always hated the smell of a used tray. We hobbled along for another couple of years, but the end was nigh!Earlier this year (2024), he started pestering me for food. If I was working in my office and he wandered in, he would sit by the door meowing, and I would feel guilty about having to close the door on him, knowing he was hungry. There was always food out for him and plenty of water, but he'd forgotten about it. He'd only stop if I gave him a completely fresh pouch of food or Chicken. And it had to be Tesco sliced Chicken breast otherwise he'd turn his nose up at it. Alternatively Tesco Corned Beef and even though other brands were available, again, he didn't like them as much. I really spoilt that boy and it cost me loads!But he was totally worth it, and although my finances haven't been great this year, I accommodated him as much as possible. Add in meds and vet visits and it was getting really expensive towards the end. You don't often get 20-year-old cats because people tend to put them to sleep when they get to geriatric age and start having issues, but I couldn't do that to my Baggins. He was my family, so we carried on together, with lots of food, treats and reassurances, and evenings spent in my chair watching TV with him curled up purring on my lap. He never minded the noise because he'd gone deaf by then. He became incontinent over the summer so I bought puppy pads and put them around the house for him, but was never certain if I was going to step in a puddle of cold wee in the morning. Knowing our time together was short, I made sure I had a Chicken and Corned Beef supply at all times and tried to give him what he wanted whenever he wanted it. And his vision was getting worse so wider, flatter food bowls that were light in colour so he could see the contrast between the bowl and his food. Every little helps I guess. I hope so. Over the last few months, he got skinnier and skinnier and was pestering me for food constantly. It became less of an annoyance for me as I knew he had a genuine problem by now, but I still feel guilty having to close the office door on him if I was on Zoom. But he could still jump up on my lap or onto the bed, so I said to myself that when he couldn't do that, a decision was to be made. Last week, his meow changed!It wasn't the strong vocal meow I was used to, it was weak and quiet and I worried that our time together was short. Over the weekend he got an eye infection so I was constantly wiping gunk from them. He was moping around, starting to wobble as he walked, and by Monday he was pretty vacant, stopped eating and wouldn't sit with me. It was as if he wasn't there anymore, and his body was just going through the motions. I knew it was time to take him to the vet!I really didn't want to make that decision and I cried my eyes out begging the Universe not to force it on me. And she listened as I came downstairs on Tuesday morning and he was stretched out on his bed, like a little puma, and he wasn't breathing anymore. Baggins Black Whiskers, my King of Cats was no more. I wrapped him in a towel and showed his body to his brother Gimley who sniffed him and then went outside (not sure how cats process death). Then I took him to MK Vets at Stony Stratford. I cried the whole way there. There's a lovely lady working for MK Vets called Claire and she's a cat whisperer!She's had grooming sessions with Baggins over the past few years and always said he was special. It meant a lot for me that she was at the Stony Stratford branch that morning and I could hand over my boy to someone who I knew cared and that she would look after him. I gave him one last fuss, and I noticed that his face had become so gaunt that his large ears made him look just like the kitten I met all those years ago; it was quite a profound moment, though I was a blubbering mess as I went back to my car. The legend that was the Baggins is no more!From a scrappy 3-month-old kitten with swivelly ears that ran around like a streak of black lightning, to a cranky 20-year-old demanding chicken and forgetting where to pee, he's been by my side through all the ups and downs of my life for the past two decades and I've loved my boy Baggins every single day that I've known him. I will miss my beautiful boy forever. Until next time ...
STEFFI LEWIS
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Steffi Lewis | Blog Turning coffee into code since 1993 ... |
