Remembering Daryl

Another year, another cat. A year and a month after I lost Ms. Kitty, today I lost my another treasured companion, Daryl, to lymphoma. He was 13 years old. I want to put down what I remember about him now so I can read this again on occasion as the years go by to remind myself of what he was like.

One of my next door neighbors in 2002 (since moved) had a cat named Dotty. Dotty had three kittens, and these next door neighbors ignored them. She's probably gone by now, but here she is greeting Daryl on my back porch in 2003.

Daryl had a brother and a sister. The brother I named Larry. I named Daryl and his brother Larry after the three brothers Larry, Darryl, and the other brother Darryl on the popular 80s sitcom Newhart. Princess was named because Ms. Kitty was the queen of the house, so she had to be the princess.

To gain the kittens trust, I first gained the trust of their mother, Dottie. At first when I approached her, she'd walk calmly but deliberately to the fence, jump it, then turn around. She's permit me to walk up to the fence and pet her. Eventually she decided I was ok and would come toward me instead of away when I came outside to check on them. The three kittens followed her lead, except Daryl for a while but I won him over too in time.

Larry liked to lay in the street, and that made his life a short one unfortunately. Too bad, because Larry was a fearless sweetie. Here's Daryl and Larry in my front yard near the neighbor's fence:

The only to tell them apart by looking at them was by their differing eye color. Larry was not shy, but Daryl was very much shy. This made it easy to tell them apart.

His sister is Princess, still in good health and cancer free (as far as I know).

Daryl and his sister Princess would join Ms. Kitty in the house I shared with my mom back then.

Daryl, like his sister, loved to go after shoe strings.

Even near the end when Daryl was hurting, he could still be persuaded to play that that shoestring.

He never cared to chase lasers for some reason.

He slept a lot like most cats do, and he'd go crazy at times, also like most cats do.

Most of the time he didn't care for me giving him hugs and smooches. He would put on his disgust face and run away. But he could also be very affectionate when it was his idea.

Whenever I'd go to pet him, he'd dip his ears. I have a video of him doing that I may add sometime.

He never liked being held, even when he was a kitten. That made taking him to the vet an interesting challenge some years. I was so proud of myself in August 2012 I made a video of that year's triumph.

Since he hated to be picked up, I had to tease him by extending my arms like I was going to pick him just to watch him take off.

He was scared of thunderstorms, unlike his sister.

He loved to chew up sheets of paper into little itty bitty bits and spit them back out.

During his last yearly visit, the blood work on his showed that he had hyperthyroidism, a disease more common in older cats. My vet referred me to Radiocat, a veterinary practice specializing in treating hyperthyroidism in cats.

In my area, this practice visits Upstate Veterinary Specialists in Greenville, SC once a month. After having my vet run the required tests and X-rays and send them to Radiocat, I had to do was drop off Daryl, pay the rather large fee (about $1100), and come back after the waiting period to ensure he wasn't radioactive. I had him treated in early December 2014.

After he came home, I had to use flushable litter, and ensure he wasn't around either pregnant women or children for about a week.

When I let him out of the cage when he came home, I noticed he had a slight limp but thought nothing of it at the time. Just after Christmas 2014, I noticed he held up his paw and would avoid walking on it. When he did walk on it, I could see it buckle like it couldn't hold weight. I thought maybe his sister Princess got cranky again and took yet another swipe at him and injured him. I made an appointment with my vet.

The vet saw no signs of injury. He took a biopsy, and the results came back as lymphoma. My buddy boy had cancer.

I took him to the oncology specialists at Upstate Veterinary Specialists who decided amputation of the affected front paw was the surest and best option. The surgery was in early February. A checkup by them a month later in March showed "all clear". I was told to come back in a few months for a more detailed checkup.

In April, about the time Daryl was due for his cancer checkup, I noticed he wasn't eating well. Oops! I forgot he had a bad tooth! The tooth couldn't be taken care of because the surgery involved anesthesia, and anesthesia is too risky on a cat with a hyperthyroid condition. I took him to see the vet and schedule surgery for the tooth.

Imagine my surprise when my vet told me the cancer had returned, this time in his neck. Oh great. I went ahead and had his tooth problem fixed because a cat that can't eat isn't worth saving. The vet performed the first round of chemo after Daryl recovered from the surgery.

The first round of chemo did a good job of reducing the lymphoma. However, the followup treatments just slowed down the lymphoma's spread and the lump got bigger again.

A few days ago, his breathing became raspy and he stopped eating. The growing lymphoma in his neck must have made eating too painful. He began losing weight rapidly. On May 14th he weighed 11 lbs. Last Wednesday he weighed 10lbs. This morning he weighed 9lbs. He was done.

Today he was scheduled for this next round of chemo with a different drug. Instead he was put out of his misery.

Sleep well my clothes basket loving furry friend. I will miss you. You will live on through my photos and videos my little shy guy.