July 10, 2007 – July 3,2025
I got Scylla when I was 19 and attending FSU. She was a little ball of terror with ears almost a big as her personality.
I will never forget when I came home one afternoon shortly after getting her. I could not find her anywhere and as a new kitty mom, I was stressed out. I could not believe I lost my indoor cat some how. I heard little mews coming from the wall and thought I was going insane. Finally I found a small hole near the floor hidden by the lower bathroom cabinets. I was in quite the panic but eventually decided to open a can of tuna to try and lure her out. She came out like nothing happened and she was ready for her treat. I taped up the hole while she was distracted with food and thankfully it never became a repeat incident.
Her name is from Greek mythology. Scylla (Sil-la) is a legendary, man-eating monster that lives on a cliff overlooking a channel of water. She lived up to her name perched up on her kitty condo swatting anyone who attempted to get too close.
She loved a good box. She tested and proved the scientific theory “If I fits, I sits” many times.
For many years, she was an only child and when her brother came into the picture she was less than thrilled.
She was, however, always willing to steal a nap on his bed when he wasn’t looking.
When it came to sharing a bed with him she was open to the idea but preferred a small amount of distance between them. No need to cuddle too closely.
When available, she would always pick a sunny window seat. Sometimes even venturing out into the back yard to enjoy some direct sun and warm concrete.
She put up with my shenanigans and kept me on task while I was working from home.
She lived with me in Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Washington, and traveled full time in a 5th-wheel.
Everywhere I went, she came with me.
Final Year
If you don’t know, I work in vet medicine and have for the past 14 years. This is where I am going to get into some of the medical details the contributed to why it was time to say goodbye.
Last year Scylla was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. For the most part her CKD was fairly mild and the first few months were pretty smooth. She ate the prescribed kidney diet and was still active. She was also diagnosed with a low grade heart murmur.
A few months into her CKD journey, she stopped eating the renal prescription diets. We tried all the different brands and flavors but none were appealing to her. During this time she went from her normal 12lbs to just over 6lbs. She may look fluffy in the photo above, but under that fluff was nothing but skin and bone.
It was time to move away from the prescription diets and just make sure she was getting calories. This was a long exhausting process while we went down a spreadsheet of over the counter diets ranked by phosphorus and protein to help control her CKD as much as possible. We introduced supplements to help add calories and additional nutrients to support kidney function. It was also around this time I had an ultrasound on her heart that confirmed Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a type of heart disease where the heart muscles thicken and make it more difficult to pump blood efficiently.
While in the process of trying to get her to gain weight she would eat something a few times before no longer being interested and then needing to move to another type of food. It was a constant effort to find food for her to eat. This became more stressful depending on the town we were in and the selection of stores available there. Eventually, I was able to get her back up to 10lbs and maintained that weight for her until the end.
This is really where traveling with her became stressful for me. It was not the traveling itself but the location we would be. She actually did really well while traveling (thanks to some gabapentin) and because she was coming back into the same space each time, she was not needing to adjust to a new room or location. Tt was the same 5th wheel with the same smells and all of her stuff in the same spot. The stressful factors here were vet care and pet stores. Depending on where we were would depend on how easy it was to get her into a vet clinic when needed. Sometimes we were in small towns where clinics were not taking new patients and we were over an hour from emergency clinics. It made me nervous with all her progressing needs.
Starting in San Francisco, she was at the clinic just about once a week.
She seemed to be in pain while using the bathroom but after multiple visits to the vet and multiple urine cultures coming back negative we did not have any answers. She had started to get a monthly injection to help relieve arthritis pain. While this seemed to help a little with her mobility it did not do enough to make her completely comfortable. Her heart murmur had also progressed from a grade 1 to grade 4.
This was when she started to take pain medication two times a day. It really seemed to help her but she hated the process of having to take the medicine and over time it became harder and harder to get a good dose in her. When she only got a small amount, she would suffer more due to her pain levels.
When we were in Marina and she was in the clinic for her arthritis injection and they went ahead and did some X-rays on her. This showed two main issues. The first issue was her spine. She had developed spondylosis deformans, bone spurs on two of her disks. She also had some narrowing disc space between other sets of disks. This was likely why she seemed so painful all the time but especially when using the litter box.
The other large issue that presented itself on the x-rays were the condition of her lungs. They had a severe bronchointerstitial pattern that indicated inflammation affecting her airways and lungs. When heart disease progresses one of the most common symptoms is fluid buildup in the lungs. She essentially had the lungs of a cat with severe bronchitis.
July 3, 2025
Her quality of life had deteriorated dramatically and we reached a point where there were more bad days than good. While we were staying in Oceano, I came to the decision that the best thing I could do for her was to ease her suffering.
She was eating and drinking when she got her pain medication but it was a fight to get the medication into her. She had stopped grooming herself over a year ago and while previously I had been able to brush her to keep the mats out, she was no longer allowing me to brush her hind leg or hip area due to her pain.
Her breathing had become more labored in general. She was not active and struggled to walk on hard floors and jumping was becoming very problematic for her. Her balance was poor and her back leg muscles had atrophied.
There was not a local Banfield in the area but I was able to get her an appointment at VCA. Deciding to put your pet down is never an easy decision but they made the process as painless as possible for everyone involved. I am forever grateful for the Doctor and Nurse that worked with us that day.
She crossed the rainbow bridge the afternoon of July 3rd 2025 after almost 18 years on this earth.
Rest easy sweet kitten, until we meet again.
Midlife Millennial Adventures 