It was a sad day for us here at Belle’n’Paws. As I write this… a few weeks have gone by as you are reading this. We lost one of our family. We were still setting up the website so we hadn’t yet started talking about Skittles. It’s with a sad heart that this is now written not in celebration of his life but in the context of his death.
Our cat Skittles passed away at home from what we believe was a heart attack. Skittles was 15 years old and generally a healthy cat. I say generally because in his later years he slowly started losing muscle mass and getting thinner. Skittles was brought to the veterinarian and his blood was tested. It was determined that he had a high thyroid level of 40 (the highest we’ve ever seen in any cat) and he was also diagnosed with a hyper-thyroid. A thyroid number of 5 is normal for Skittles. He was put on a prescription of methimazole (5mg) twice a day.
Skittles was getting better from his treatment. He had started getting some of his muscle mass back and in fact he was starting to gain some weight again. When we brought him to the veterinarian, his number had come down significantly. We were now getting a reading of 8.2 on his thyroid level and his medication was continued.
However; There were times when Skittles did have episodes now and again. He would get excited or stressed and really start breathing heavy. Skittles would lay on the floor and on his side and he would eventually calm down. There was a particular time when this happened while he was at the veterinarian. They gave him oxygen and he came out of it.
The determination was made that he had stressed himself out. Skittles didn’t like being in a cat carrier and he didn’t like leaving home at all. He was very skittish (hence his name Skittles) especially when it came to anyone new in his life. That would include both cats and humans. However; he would eventually warm up to you when he was comfortable.. and that wouldn’t take long at all.
We have since come to believe that these little bouts of stress may have in fact been small heart attacks through the last months of his life.
Skittles didn’t get along with the other cats generally. All our animals are fixed and that included Skittles. Even though he was fixed, Skittles would still spray when we gave him free access to the house. If we confined Skittles to one room he wouldn’t spray at all. So long story short here… Skittles was mostly confined to one or more rooms with short bouts where he would have access to the rest of the house.
Because he sprayed, it brought about a situation where the other cats were constantly picking fights with him. However; put any one or more of the other cats in the same confined area as Skittles, and there would be no issues. No fighting. No bullying. No spraying. No nothing. Let Skittles walk through the house and he was stalked the entire time.
The picture I’m trying to paint here is that Skittles was confined or limited but it made for a happier household all around. It seemed Skittles wanted a place to call his own and as long as he was confined to those areas he wouldn’t feel such a need to mark or spray where he was. It wasn’t until he was mixed with the other cats in an all access environment that he felt the need to spray.
Oddly enough, Belle took to Skittles right away. Belle absolutely loved hanging with Skittles whether he was confined in his room or whether he was roaming around the house for the day. It was flabbergasting from our standpoint to see the magic between these two cats.
Watching Belle and Skittles was like watching a married couple play and flirt with each other and that was the case from day one. They didn’t have to warm up to each other whatsoever. It was instant. Many pictures we have of Skittles include both Belle and him enjoying some time together.
