RIP Chester

The oriental short hair cat known to my wife and I as Chester died last week in our home in Mexico from complications of kidney disease exacerbated by malnutrition and abuse. I only knew him for about three weeks but he touched my life in a way few cats ever have and I felt compelled to share at least a part of his story after we lost him. We had rescued Chester from the home of a formerly well respected oriental short hair breeder who had fallen on very hard times and was now living in an abandoned property only a few miles from us. Given the condition of the property, Chester, and the three fellow oriental short hair companions we rescued alongside him it seems that reputation was not deserved. In conversation she revealed a shocking lack of understanding or knowledge of some of the most basic requirements of cat care, especially for a breeder. Moreover she displayed with her behaviors and attitudes a coldness and lack of sympathy which suggested to me that she did not love her cats. I can't even say she really liked them, at least not for what they were, but only for what they could do for her. Moreover, they reacted to her presence with fear and aggression, the exact opposite of what a healthy human cat relationship should look like. It was frankly disgusting and I was appalled beyond words. The property itself was essentially an abandoned mobile home set in a small unkempt lot covered in rusted metal junk, weeds, and a few sad tufts of grass. It had no running water or refrigeration or heat, and was as big a disaster on the inside as the out. It reeked of urine and feces with overflowing litterboxes and trash strewn about, though it seemed she had tried to clean up some just prior to our visit. The place had a very bad feeling about, and an unusual, impossible to place odor above and beyond the cat urine. Natural gas maybe? Each of the two times I went there I was sick for hours after. The bad feeling was of a both physical and let's call it spiritual nature. I hate to say the word 'evil' because it is so loaded with religious connotations, but it is the best I can come up with. I hated it there, and even thinking about it now is making me feel a little nauseous. I believe there is a reason the property has been abandoned for so long, and the ominousness of it made my concern and fear for the cats safety even higher then it already was after talking with their owner.

Chester originally came to Mexico with twelve companions but seven had died or disappeared many months ago and an eighth died only two days before we took possession of the remaining four. We had gone to the property at the behest of a colleague of my wife's from the cat show world. Concerns had been raised by some about the mental and physical health of the breeder and the conditions of the twelve cats she was known to have. None of those who had concerns were willing to risk entering Mexico out of fear and since we already lived here, and knew how to operate safely in the country, it made sense that they would ask us for help. My wife has been breeding and showing oriental cats for over 15 years now in the United States, Australia, and Mexico, and has done much for the advancement of the breed. Using her deep knowledge of molecular biology and cat genetics along with an exquisitely thorough and meticulous process for selecting cats for breeding she has managed to produce some of the healthiest, happiest, and most wonderful cats you could ever hope to meet. Recently, some of her cats have earned some of the highest honors in the cat show world in multiple cat federations. Waiting lists for kittens she produces can be many years long. Suffice to say she knows the breed and her love for them knows no bounds. She also regularly adopts and rehabilitates street cats and has run successful trap, neuter/spay, and release programs in the US and is starting another in Mexico with my help in the next few weeks. When she found out that there may be orientals suffering very near our own home she jumped at the opportunity to help despite the dangers associated with intervening in a situation about which we knew almost nothing, in a part of town known to be dangerous, in a country in which we are only temporary residents.

In my view, the ones that died were the lucky ones. The conditions at the property were shocking and horrifying, and the cats were near starvation and infested with fleas, mites, and the beginnings of scabies. In my opinion they had been physically and mentally abused, and without a doubt neglected. Chester's teeth had been almost entirely knocked out or fallen out of his mouth. Only two remained that were visible and they were bent horribly sticking out at an impossible angle from his mouth and protruding down over his lower chin. The pain must have been near unbearable and yet somehow of all the cats we saved his spirit was the least broken. The other three were in slightly better, though still terrible, physical condition, but mentally much, much worse. One in particular, a gigantic black oriental we called Thor, was literally catatonic. He had been their protector, but had apparently seen so many awful things, and lost so many of his closest companions, including multiple litters of kittens, that he had completely shut down. I have never seen anything like it in a cat, and I hope to never see it again. His eyes remained fixed wide open, pupils fully dilated as he stared off into space. Every muscle fully clenched and shaking in terror if anyone approached or made a move to touch him. As far as I could tell he did not sleep, ever. And to this day almost a month later, I still have not seen him asleep though I know he must. For a cat to not sleep is a thing almost beyond imagining as, unlike humans, they spend the majority of their lives in slumber. It seemed as if he had completely forgotten how to be a cat. What was left was just a shell, a cat shaped body, emptied of the cat that was and replaced by a barely living thing frozen in terror and totally lost. My wife has worked tirelessly to bring him back and he has made amazing progress thanks to her and a prescription for prozac from our outstanding vets here in Mexico, but he has a very long ways to go. The other two are faring much better and they have a good chance at a fairly normal healthy and happy remaining life. The vet had guessed their ages as between six and nine years old. Turns out the oldest, Chester, was only three. That alone speaks volumes as to how bad a condition they were in at the time.

Even without the tooth issues, Chester would be a strange looking cat. He has the very large ears favored by European breeders and we suspected his lineage was of European origin. When we first brought the four rescues home it was Chester who was the first to warm up to us and his new home. Each time we would enter the room with the four cats he would rise to greet us, moving first to each of his three friends to provide head butts and rubs trying to reassure them of our good intentions. He spent a particularly large amount of time with Thor, doing anything he could to comfort him or coax him back to the world of the living. It was clear they had or at least at some point did have a very tight bond. It is impossible to stress enough how rare a thing it is for two non-related, non-neutered male cats to develop such a close bond. Generally they are rivals and spitting and fighting is the much more typical relationship. After about a week in our home all of the cats but Chester had gained a considerable amount of weight. Because of his teeth it was very difficult for Chester to eat even wet food. We had been giving him pain medication prescribed by our vet but still he struggled to eat. Blood tests showed that his kidneys were failing. After consultation with our vets it became clear his only chance was to have his remaining teeth surgically removed to clear his mouth both of the inflammation and the ongoing infectious process that was contributing to his kidney failure. Without it, he would never be able to eat or drink normally again and would continue to waste away as he clearly had been doing. In the United States this sort of veterinary surgery could run upwards of three thousand dollars, our vets in Mexico charged us three hundred which included all of Chester’s follow-up visits and pre-operative bloodwork. The vet who did the surgery was highly skilled and had taken quite a liking to Chester and we know he went above and beyond, both during the surgery and in the days that followed, volunteering many of his own hours, as we tried to stabilize Chester. We do not blame him at all for what happened. Despite our best efforts two days after we brough Chester home from surgery he died in our home. He was cradled in my wife's arms, purring as he went. Five of our own cats looked on in silence from the bed in the room behind us as he took his last breath. My wife and I cried for some time, holding Chester together until we could cry no more.

We buried Chester at the base of a small palm tree on our patio. At the very brief 'funeral' we held I made a solemn vow the text of which is provided below. I will never forget the cat Chester but I know he is still with us, watching over us and his companions in death exactly as he did in life.

My oath to Chester the cat read aloud at his funeral

Chester, on this day November 7, 2024 I Daniel Demarco swear to protect and care for your three remaining companions. I will do everything in my power to ensure their safety and health and to find them each loving homes where they can live the rest of their lives in happiness. I also vow to never intentionally cause harm to any cat, nor by willful inaction allow any to come to harm. In return I ask you to protect our home and all who dwell within it (friends, family, residents, or guests) from any harms of a physical or spiritual nature. You may recruit any of your spirit friend cats to join in protecting our home and they have permission to dwell here for as long or short a time as they see fit. If I break my oath you and any dead cat spirits have permission to haunt the shit out of the place, terrorizing any residents until such time as the house collapses into the ocean. I love you buddy and will miss you terribly. Thank you for everything.