Mickey

Memories from Joyce, a Blue Bell staff member:

Mickey passed away Friday afternoon, April 13th.

One afternoon, Susan called to let me know that we were getting a feral cat as a new resident at Blue Bell. She said that he was 20 years old, in end-stage kidney failure, had only 6-8 weeks to live and that I needed to give him subQ fluids every day.

Well, that was 5 months ago and obviously no one informed Mickey he wasn't supposed to be around this long!

Mickey was the last surviving member of a TNR (trap-neuter-return) feral colony in Laguna Beach's Heisler Park, that a group of people had been feeding for 20 years. He was starting to not do very well, and he had been in a fight last year and had bite marks on his head that had turned into an abscess. His caretakers thought it best to make arrangements for him to come to Blue Bell to retire in style.

I decided to set him up in the office. I turned a file cabinet on its side and that became his dining table. And dine, he did! He gained a pound in the first few weeks! I set up a bed in the bookcase and he loved curling up in a ball for afternoon naps and nighttime sleeps.

I let him out in the patio by himself after the first few days in the office. His back legs were not very strong so he was a bit unsteady, but he still walked around like he owned the place. He went right over to the pond and started drinking. He walked around making loud, frequent, calling sounds - I don't know if he was calling for his feral friends or if he was just saying "hey everyone, look at me!", but you would hear him roaming the patios with his loud "cuh-CAHH" sounds, every day. And when you called his name, he would make this little chirping sound, look right at you and come right to you. Well unless it was fluid time, and in the beginning he would run from me and I had to laugh out loud several times, cuz here I was chasing this 20 year old cat around the patios! He had this move, where he would "scoot" his body down and forward every time I tried to grab him.

After a few weeks, he was doing so well (weight gain and his legs were stronger), I let him out with the other cats and he stayed out all the time after that. I never once saw him have a problem with any of the other cats. He was like the wise old man that everyone respected.

He took over Trixie's chair in the back room and more recently loved jumping up to the top of the bunk bed with Char, CoCo, Beau, Houdie and Baby. He would still come back to the office for lunch and a nap and then it was back out with his buddies. And sometimes at night, he would stay in the office so we could leave out extra food for him.

He was very easy to give fluids to. In the beginning, he tried jumping off the table when I inserted the needle, but he quickly learned to sit and would put his head on my chest and just wait, cuz he would get a treat after. And Mickey was all about food! Dry food, wet food, chicken, he didn't care, "just feed me!"

He was so very sweet and had such wise eyes. Nothing like a typical feral. However, when Dr. Alcala had to take blood, and when I had to remove his pressure wrap bandage after he had been to Canyon for an overnight stay a month ago, his feral came out and he would just fight and scream.

If there was one word I would use to describe Mickey, it would be "determination." Everything he did, he did with determination - walking, eating, living. An amazing cat.

We have been watching him closely over the past few weeks; he would have a bad day occasionally, but mostly good days. This past week his eating had slowed, he was sleeping more and Wednesday he started losing weight. I came in Friday morning and Maria said he ate a very little bit at breakfast. Subsequent attempts to get him to eat were unsuccessful. In the morning, he wandered around the patios, followed me into the kitchen but did not want to eat, so he followed me back out to the patio and he jumped up onto the first level of the pond and drank for a long time. He spent most of the morning sleeping on the patio and drinking from the pond.

Many of you know Sunny, one of the people that had fed him over the years. She visits often and came in and sat with him during the afternoon.

Over the next few hours, Sarah and I watched him closely and it became obvious that his little body was shutting down and he was telling us he was ready to go.

We took him into the office, right where he started. He curled up in his bed in the bookcase and rested and I said my good byes. I slowly sang him the song that I made up to sing to him while giving him fluids - to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club song...

Who's the cat we love so much Mickey
And people come to see
M-I-C-K-E-Y F-E-R-A-L
Mickey feral, Mickey feral
His name is Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Mick-EE
Come along and join his friends, who love this kitty so
M-I-C
see, he's so handsome!
K-E-Y
why? cuz we love him!
F-E-R-A-L

Some people think of Friday the 13th as unlucky, but I think it was very lucky for Mickey because he got to go "home" that day and see all his feral friends and romp and play like a kitten all over again.

I am sad he is gone, but he lived a long life, and Blue Bell was just the icing on his cake - his reward for a long, hard life. And if he was happy at Blue Bell, I can only imagine his excitement and awe now!!

A beautiful end to the rainbow. We will miss you little guy!