Neo

Schimmel Jacob’s Field

I never for one moment imagined that I would be opening my website with an entry already at Rainbow Bridge.  The loss of darling Neo is still one of the most unfair things that have ever happened to me.

My story with Neo began with sending a kitten enquiry to Kat.  We had decided to start looking for an oriental black kitten, and it was the Schimmel website that I kept coming back to as the best I could find.  Kat and I exchanged a couple of emails, and she agreed to put me on the waiting list for future litters.  After a few weeks, Kat contacted me again to see if I would be interested in a slightly older brown spotted tabby boy.

Tony at the time wasn’t keen on tabbies.  This has changed since the first day Neo came home.  I reluctantly replied to Kat that we would be waiting for a black, and wouldn’t be taking the tabby boy.

I then had one of the most tormented weeks of my life during which I looked a hundred times a day at the four photos Kat had sent me and the kitten diary on the site.  I couldn’t get that boy out of my mind. I approached Tony again, and he agreed that I could go and at least meet the kitten.  The first thing I did the next day was to call Kat and arrange a visit.  I have never been so knocked sideways by a cat as that day.  This tiny elegant man had so much presence squished into so small a space that he seemed to bend the universe around him.  He refused to talk to me, wriggled out of my arms, and pulled grumpy faces at me.  I loved him.  I left the deposit with Kat right then.

Dear Tony came around to the fact that Neo would be coming to live with us, and that yes, I was still planning on getting another kitten after that.  What a saint.

I was always slightly in awe of Neo.  He was honestly the most beautiful cat I had ever seen, and I never quite got used to the fact that he was on my sofa.  He was a little aloof, but this isn’t unusual for a kitten of his age at the time – it was the ‘independent phase’.  He would happily snuggle up with the other boys in the cat beds, or on my lap in the evening.

I took a couple of days off from work to settle him in to the house.  The morning I was due to go back, I was about to leave the house, and did the cat head count.  Only two.  I couldn’t find Neo anywhere.  I had to call work to say I would be in when I found the kitten.  After an hour of looking, I called Tony home from work to help me.  We had turned every room upside down, and been up and down the street a couple of times when we got to despairing point and made a cup of tea to sit down and make a plan of action.  Whilst sitting on the living room floor, I heard a tiny rustle.  I opened the drawer in the coffee table to find Neo fast asleep and oblivious to the chaos he was causing.  He had climbed into a closed drawer from under the table and fallen asleep.

One day when I came home from work, I noticed Neo stagger as he jumped down from the sofa.  Then I saw how unsteady his back legs were as he fell and was unable to get up.  The first call I made was to my vet, to let them know I was on the way.  The second was to Kat to let her know what was happening.

The initial consultation gave nothing conclusive, and they sent Neo home with me for the night, to come back in the morning for tests.  I stayed in the living room all night with him, mostly lying on the floor with him. My poor darling boy deteriorated overnight, and was very sick by the time I took him to the vets in the morning.

Luckily for me Neo was insured and when my vet suggested I take him to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital I was able to agree with no question.  The hardest time was while Neo was in hospital, and we didn’t have a conclusive diagnosis.  We did know we were possibly looking at FIP.  I spent most of every evening crying on the phone with Kat.  Finally, every possible test had been done, and we had to make the awful decision to let our handsome man go.  I visited him once in hospital and it broke my heart.  When I saw him, I knew he was trying to tell me how very tired he was, and how he didn’t want to fight any more. 

Tony and I were both with Neo when he was sent to sleep.  I held his hand and told him not to worry, and Tony was gently stroking his side.  My already broken heart almost died.

I have to say that every single member of staff at the veterinary hospital was wonderful.  From the various receptionists that deciphered my sobbing and crying to the wonderful consultant that looked after Neo and called me every day to tell me exactly how he was, and was there with us right at the end.

I wish I had had longer to get to know this most beautiful man.  I wish I had been able to do something to save him.  I wish the awful virus had never taken hold of his tiny system.  I will never wish that he had not been part of my life, and will always remain grateful for it.  In fact, the whole hideous time launched Kat and me into a strong friendship, and it is solely down to the support and encouragement she has given me that I have the courage and self belief to breed cats myself.

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