On 1st October 2023 our beloved half-Bengal, Harley crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He leaves behind his brother Benji.
He was 18 years old.
As many of you know, Harley had some health problems earlier this year with Hyphema in his right eye and also a severe ear infection on the same side. We saw three vets and it was the third vet who made the connection that the ear infection and the eye were probably related. I personally suspected that there may have been a tumour there and earlier this week we noticed a small growth on his tear duct again on the right side.
Over several weeks Harley went downhill, losing a lot of weight but was still his indominable self, demanding food, giving his cat-chat - you could not ignore him. He loved to tell us about his day and loved to be loved on and boy, did he love back.
Gradually over the past week or so he was sleeping more and more. He also couldn't make it to the litter box so we had to put puppy pads on the floor. He'd stopped grooming himself so his brother would groom him from head to tail and back again, then curl up close to him as if protecting him.
In the early hours of the morning Harley's co-ordination had completely gone. I suspect he'd had a stroke. Ian (my son) and I decided that we would ring the vet Monday morning and arrange for him to be put to sleep. Harley had other ideas.
At about 7.45pm Ian gave the cats their evening meal. Harley ate his meal then within 10 minutes he passed away, very quietly, very peacefully. It was as if he'd told the Reaper "You can wait. I'm having my meal first". Harley was quite a character and we are really going to miss him. We're worried about his brother who, although apart from having gone blind with age, is otherwise quite healthy but they were bonded brothers and had never been apart except when we had to take Harley to the vet earlier this year.
Unfortunately, I don't have a recent pic of Harley. I lost a lot of my pics when my hard drive crashed so here is a pic of Harley as a kitten. We are going to miss him but he lives on in our hearts and memories. Harley is looking straight at the camera.
He was 18 years old.
As many of you know, Harley had some health problems earlier this year with Hyphema in his right eye and also a severe ear infection on the same side. We saw three vets and it was the third vet who made the connection that the ear infection and the eye were probably related. I personally suspected that there may have been a tumour there and earlier this week we noticed a small growth on his tear duct again on the right side.
Over several weeks Harley went downhill, losing a lot of weight but was still his indominable self, demanding food, giving his cat-chat - you could not ignore him. He loved to tell us about his day and loved to be loved on and boy, did he love back.
Gradually over the past week or so he was sleeping more and more. He also couldn't make it to the litter box so we had to put puppy pads on the floor. He'd stopped grooming himself so his brother would groom him from head to tail and back again, then curl up close to him as if protecting him.
In the early hours of the morning Harley's co-ordination had completely gone. I suspect he'd had a stroke. Ian (my son) and I decided that we would ring the vet Monday morning and arrange for him to be put to sleep. Harley had other ideas.
At about 7.45pm Ian gave the cats their evening meal. Harley ate his meal then within 10 minutes he passed away, very quietly, very peacefully. It was as if he'd told the Reaper "You can wait. I'm having my meal first". Harley was quite a character and we are really going to miss him. We're worried about his brother who, although apart from having gone blind with age, is otherwise quite healthy but they were bonded brothers and had never been apart except when we had to take Harley to the vet earlier this year.
Unfortunately, I don't have a recent pic of Harley. I lost a lot of my pics when my hard drive crashed so here is a pic of Harley as a kitten. We are going to miss him but he lives on in our hearts and memories. Harley is looking straight at the camera.
