His name was Zeus
by Florence Germain
He had diarrhea? That's what I thought when took him to the vet clinic that morning of the 8th, they gave him pills to take and antibiotic also. All I can say is that he had a very bad reaction to this medication, he was not the same cat by 5 pm that same day that I had taken him to the vet for his 7:40 am appointment. I took him back no the 9th and he could no longer walk. they told me to take him to the hospital that same day and they kept him. They seem to be in shock about what was going on with him as I was. they suggested leaving him in the hospital for the next 24 hours and see what the outcome will be. Well the next day Sunday the 10th he was no better and said I could take him home but I would need to bring him back. They gave me a long list of things/treatments that he could go through but they had no answers and also said that it would be a long drawn out situation (MRI, CT scan and more) and that they most likely wouldn't know. Initially Dr. Chen said that he had walking problems and was in pain his gait was like someone walking in pain. I couldn't begin to tell you how I felt how sad I was I was in an absolute state of shock. And that Sunday morning on the 10th I really thought I could take him home. But they saw no change and he wasn't better really was worse off - could not pick up his head. To make a long story short all of the above for Sunday was done from my apartment on my phone with them and me calling my friends to walk me through this - "what to do" what to do what to do all i can ask was what to do. I just couldn't go to the hospital I just couldn't go. I ended up giving permission for him to be put away. Terrible Terrible Terrible just Terrible. Zeus met me at the door every day and allowed me to kiss him, cuddle him, squeeze him, and kiss him some more. And he would have his way to tell me that's enough put me down. He listened to me when I told him don't go down stairs, because he use to do it and I would complain to him that I didn't feel like running after him. He would have to sniff the whole hallway and go down to Ron's door where he use to be taken care of before he was one and when my son Tony and my granddaughter came to visit. He followed me every way I went in the apartment. He had his own version of a television which was to watch the water trickle down the shower curtain. He watched everything I did with such concentration. When I hear the birds in the morning I think of him. I even bought him a toy bird that sounded like a real bird, that caused him some confusion. When I went to Fort Lauderdale I brought him back a fish on a stick and he use to hit it like he was angry, he just didn't treat it like his other toys that he had on a stick. Did he know that Tony was very sick in the hospital, what did he know what did he sense from me. When I did get back from there I use to cuddle him more. I was extremely sad about Tony and scared for his life. I use to take him out for walks but I held him, tried him on a leash but he spent too much time sniffing and the sidewalks are not really clean and I didn't want him to catch any thing like bugs or whatever, and he would put things in his mouth and then I would have to fight him to get it out. He was a handful but I loved every minute of him. I ended up buying a front pack carrier and off we went to one of our favorite place - Farmers Market and the Grove - I would eat he would sit in the chair next to me and watch the birds there. I took him shopping to the Grove, the Banana Republic, even Macy's at the Beverly Center. A lot of people got to know him they wanted to pet him and he let them more than he allowed me. He'd hit me with his paw a lot. From the very beginning when I got scratched I let him know by saying ow ow ow that he was hurting me so then he didn't stretch out his claws. He let me bathe him, cut his nails, brush him, massage him. He loved taking his mineral oil so he wouldn't have hair balls. But I really think it was me who needed medication for his hair. Hair I think they call it Fur - my apartment turned out to be a hair ball, I even ended up with hair in my fridge. I forgot to tell you that Zeus was all black short hair with 2 white whiskers that was his distinguishing mark. I bought him a lot of toys and sometimes these toys were for dogs or little babies - he definitely did not go for them. I bought him condos for him to sleep in and play in. I bought him tunnels for him to run in like a crazy cat, he loved doing that - chasing invisible things. And he especially loved attacking the walls. I spoiled him, what else would you do with a cat? He got bottled water, cat treats, and human treats like ice cream, cheese - he always wanted know what I was eating I let him smell it lick it and he generally turned up his nose at it. I would call him from the office, knowing that I was waking him up and that he would stumble over to the phone when it rang and stumble over to it like he would answer the phone. When I came home he would go to my purse looking for what..... He loved to bite all the wires in the house - bit all the handles on my purses. Grocery bags were a thrill for him. Crumbled up paper, and anything that crinkled. He would just rub himself all over my clothes. I really tried in the beginning to keep my clothes away from him, that didn't work out he was too fast in doing what he wanted. He loved cat food that had gravy - that's the way I am too so that made sense to me. He loved it when I threw his treats on the kitchen floor - he would chase it and attack it and then eat it. After I came back from Florida, I would hold him in my arms and fed him treats that way - he liked that too. He had multiple personalities and one of them was a person and that was very strong and he would let me know. And the other which was also strong was a very big cat and that came out also every once in awhile when he had something to say. My bosses daughter found this Zeus on the street in the month of May and I took one look at him and fell in love and brought him home on June 25th, 2009. I loved this cat, I had a good time with him and he with me. I was a person who rarely stayed home, I still don't but I did try to give him a Saturday or a Sunday and he knew it. He slept on my bed when I was out and couldn't wait to get into mischief when I got home. I use to say to him - you were all day with this stuff and now you are knocking my stuff onto the floor, what a character.
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