Remembering an old friend today May 31st-June 1st

One year ago today was the last day on this earth for my little "chief alchemist" Marley.

I adopted Marley and his brother Max, 12 years ago during a very difficult time in my life.

They became the loves of my life, my best friends, and constant companions.

I can't put into words the type of bond we had. I wouldn't do it justice.

Marley, being the more dominant of the two of them, became a type of guardian, or familiar to me. His little brother Max was never far behind.

Where you found one, you found the other.

After a tough day, they were always there at the door with an indescribable comfort.

It was pure, unselfish, unconditional love.

When I originally decided to do this blog, I was either going to make it a quick tribute to him, or go into detail about how he died.

Because of what it was that made him sick, and perhaps I could save someone else the pain and grief I experienced, I decided to go into detail.

Marley was never sick. He was a beautiful 16 lb. muscular feline. I can count on one hand the amount of times he was at the vet in the 12 years he was with me.

Please let me clarify this...by no means am I trying to place blame on any one person for what caused his death.

By telling this story I wanted to make people aware of the trickle down affect that can happen when poisons, and chemicals are used in the garden and on lawns.

I have a neighbor who loves their lawn. I'll admit, its a beautiful one. They're also is not a fan of the weeds, and the little critters the way I am.

By little critters I mean mice, rats, ( Yes rats!), moles, voles, squirrels, and so on.

I completely understand if they wanted to keep they're property a certain way. It's their property and they're entitled.

We share a common area of a driveway. Marley happened to love to lay against a stone wall that separated the properties to absorb the warm sunshine at different times of the day.

One day I happened to notice my neighbor spraying the wall, and MY section of the driveway with a well known weed killer.

Before I could approach them, they retreated.

Now, they have been known to take liberties with my property over the 25 years I've lived here, so somehow this didn't surprise me.

Within the next week, I observed, as the pest control people arrived spraying around the perimator of their property as well as dropping pellets on the ground.

On top of that, the lawn care people were there to spray weed killer and fertilize several times in the month.

Within a few days I started to find little dead critters, as well as ones acting "groggy" coming over to my property. You could tell they ingested some sort of poison.

The next time I saw the trucks pull up infront of the house, I approached the technicians doing the job and asked for a list of ingredients that they were putting down. I also asked if it could injure an animal? Their response was, "Only if they eat it."

They never did give me a list of ingredients and told me to " Just google it".

Within a couple days after the stone wall was sprayed with the weed killer, Marley, who always had a hearty appetite, stopped eating and would only lick the juice off of his food..

He began to isolate himself in warm, dark places.

I started to notice sores showing up on his gums, and around his mouth and nose, almost like burns.

Weight started to fall off of him and I made the decision to take him in to our vet.

I spoke with the vet and explained the situation, and they ran a full blood lab on him, and for all intent an purpose, he looked healthy on paper. The thing they did notice was an extremely high white count like his body was trying to fight something.

The doctor did ask , "Could he have gotten into any type of poison, or chemical? I've seen weed killer do this to cats before, and its that time of the year."

Other questions were, "Could he have eaten a rodent that had eaten a poison pellet?, layed in an area that was sprayed with weed killer? "Chewed grass that had just been chemically treated?"

All of the above was a possiblity.

They explained to me that once the intestines absorb the chemical, it can't be stopped.

His body was fighting, and all I could do was monitor him, give him whatever he would be able to drink or eat, and wait.

I tried every imaginable food I could. He continued to lose weight and would only drink water.

He became weaker and weaker, and finally, between the evening of May 31st and morning of June 1st he gave up, and left us. He had gone from 16 to 6 lbs.

I have to admit, I was angrier than I had ever been. Marley didn't have to die.

He was victim to a poisoning.

My vet's technician, said she sees it several times per year in cats that lay in areas that have been sprayed with petroleum based weed products that end up getting on their coat and when they wash themselves, they ingest the poison, and this happens. Since Marley wasn't a big fan of hunting little critters, only making friends out of them, this was most likely the reason, and not the ingestion of one that had consumed a poison pellet.

My vet was 99.9% sure, this was the cause.

I feel the reason I'm tell you all of this is to make everyone aware of the trickle down affect of using poisons, and chemicals on their property for the sake of a green lawn or weed free driveway.

Sadly we can unknowingly create a chain of events leading to the death of something innocent, and unassuming when we decide to apply chemicals and poisons to our properties.

Something that may just want to catch the warmth of the sun that's absorbed by a stone wall, and then end up rolling in a toxic mess, that they later ingest and takes their life, like my little pal Marley.

A hungry little mouse that is just looking for food, that picks up an acorn flavored pellet, that's loaded with poison, which could lead to a larger predator eating that mouse and ingesting the poison that the mouse ingested, thus killing both creatures.

Do we ever think about what chain of events that casues, or are we just so focused on having the greenest, weed free lawn on the block to impress the neighbors?

One more quick story...

Many years ago, when chemical lawn treatments were still new, my father had hired a company to come in, and treat his lawn a few times per season.

One day he decided to take a nap in a lawn chair after cutting the lawn, and the service showed up and sprayed around him, not waking him.

The next day he couldn't get out of bed. His body was inflammed and every joint in his body ached. It was about this time of the year.

We use to walk downtown to see the Memorial day parade every year.

This was the first year, in 40 years, he had ever missed it.

The doctor's described it as "sudden onset arthritis", and put him on the typical protocol of endless medications, which didn't work.

My father was a perfectly healthy 6'6" 200 lb. man prior to that spraying.

Later on I read an article about a prima ballerina who experienced the same exact thing and it ruined her career. She had sued the company and won.

Once again, I have nothing against someone wanting a healthy green lawn.

What I do have an issue with is the misuse of chemicals and poison's at the expense of the people, domestic animals and wildlife around them. It is SO important to have a conversation with your neighbor if your going to be applying these chemicals within a close proximity to where they live.

Do we ever stop and ask the company treating the lawn, or the pest control people what's in their sprays and products? Will they offer an ingredient sheet? Do they ever stop and knock and say, "Please keep your pets inside for 24 hours after the spraying?"

Does your neighbor think about the people around them and their pets before spraying that petroleum based poison on that tiny weed growing out of the driveway crack?

Or could they just lean over and pull that little weed, and save the potential of poisoning a beloved friend.

Are the weeds really that bad that its worth potentially taking a life?

Did you know, vinegar, lemon juice and water will do the same thing safely if you really can't live with the weeds?

Instead of hauling your Autumn leaves out to the street for pick up, mow over them and mulch them in to your lawn. They'll breakdown over the Winter and in the Spring you'll have the greenest lawn you've ever seen. The leaves are the best fertilizer for your lawn., and their safe. NO chemicals.

I know, this is all a bit intense, and I didn't mean to take away from the reason I initially wrote this blog, which is to pay tribute to my little pal Marley.

What I think I'm trying to say is that before you spray that little weed, or sign that contract with that lawn company, please, please observe what's going on around you with your neighbors. Do they have pets? Small children that like to play where there may be spraying done?

Did you know that lawn chemicals can cause infertilty, and cancer's? Is it worth the chance?

My father use to have a saying: "If you think of me, and I think of you, all bases are covered."

Think of your neighbor's. The people and animals around you, before purchasing that bottle of weed killer or chemically treating your lawn.

I wouldn't wish what I went through on anyone.

Marley was a light in my life, and when he left us, it left behind a gap in our lives and in our hearts. He was like a child with fur. Those who had the pleasure of knowing him will understand what I mean.

The hard thing is, its difficult for me to look at my neighbor, a person I have lived next to for the last 25 years, without associating them with what caused his death. I know it wasn't intentional, but being human, It's an automatic response with me.

If that poison wasn't sprayed, or if I was told it would be sprayed, I would still have him here with us. I could have taken precautions.

Liberties should never be taken when there is the chance of hurting another living creature.

Whether it be in plant, animal, or human form.

My sincere apologies if this came through a bit to intense, or has offended someone in anyway. It wasn't meant too.

It was mearly an attempt to help alert folks and hope that my experiences will never have to happen again to someone else. Hopefully it won't if folks take the time to educate themsleves, and become more aware of the life going on around them.

Instead of spraying that little weed in the crack in your sidewalk, why not find out what it is, and if it has any medicinal qualities? Maybe, just maybe, its trying to tell you something about yourself. You just have to take the time to listen.

It's not the enemy.

I'm hoping my story of Marley will inspire people to find an alternative to using poisons, and chemicals on their properties. There are so many natural alternatives.

For my Marley: Chief alchemist, confidant, familiar, best friend, and constant companion.

Rest in peace my little friend. You have been a light in my life for the 12 years I was blessed to have you with me. I love and miss you everyday.

Until we meet again.

Blessings!

Kat xoxo