Marmalade & Betty
Left to right : Marmalade and Betty came to Rainbow Bridge on 02/19/2022 and 04/14/2024, respectively.
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Marmalade was born outside, a backyard in Modesto, CA. He was only 4 weeks old when I brought him home to live with me and my 19 year old cat, Sunshine. I knew that Marmalade would be the hardest to lose, and he was. I miss him as much today as the day I had to make the heart wrenching decision to put him down. What truly pains me is the suddenness of his death at 12 years of age.
Apparently, Marmalade had underlying heart disease, a condition in cats (I have since learned) referred to as “the hidden disease” because heart disease is very difficult to diagnose in felines (unlike in where it is easily diagnosed).
The suddenness of his death was due to what is called Saddle Thrombus, a clot that breaks off from the heart, traveling to the Aorta, where it lodges causing excruciating pain and paralysis of the hind legs. This was how I found him, lying stomach down on the floor, cold hind legs, unable to move, and in horrible pain.
After relaying his symptoms at the emergency clinic ( in close proximity to where I was living at the time thank goodness), his condition was truly recognized as an emergency prompting immediate action.
Not 10 minutes had passed when the Veterinarian on duty came outside (days of the pandemic) and delivered the sad news - Saddle Thrombus. The prognosis for this condition is extremely poor. After discussing options with the doc, it was decided that the most humane and unselfish act would be to euthanize him. My heart was tearing apart as I made this decision, so much so that it feels as if it was only yesterday this happened. Thinking about that night still brings tears to my eyes.
Marmalade was kooky, bratty, and funny. One of his most endearing qualities was suckling on an Afghan since he was a kitten. Whenever I would come home from somewhere he would start suckling (since it sat on the floor underneath his little bed), sneaking peaks at me while intermittently looking back at me, as I stroked his fur. If I stopped stroking him, he would turn, let out a series of short little meows as if he was saying - mom, don’t stop, and I would start to stroke him again verbalizing my version of the meow. Marmalade and I shared a special bond, he knew it; I knew it.
He was so funny because if the Afghan was not there (being washed) he would be looking for it whenever he saw me.
Marmalade was a smart cat as evidenced whenever he played with his favorite toy - spring worms (I think that was the name). All cats have that one favorite toy. Springy worm had a little head with tuffs of hair, eyes and a mouth, on top of a worm like body. He loved this toy so much so that after I could not find them anymore at Petsmart, where I had first purchased them, I looked on Amazon, becoming so so excited when I discovered wormy was for sale on Amazon.
Marmalade was diagnosed as having Hyperthyroidism about a year before he died. And although I took him in for checkups every 6 months, thinking any abnormalities would be caught early before causing illness, I so wish each Veterinarian that he saw, would have stressed Marmalade’s risk of contracting heart disease as a complication of his Hyperthyroidism. But even if I had known about the greater odds of heart disease and he was put on heart medication, the outcome could very much had been the same anyway.
Thank you for allowing me to share my story about my beloved cat Marmalade.
—Tamara Turton
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Betty was so sweet and loving, she loved everyone she met and always showered them with kisses. I’m so glad I had her in my life and I am forever grateful for her love.
—Lilyana