The story about my cats, Alex and Felix. (A lot of text and imagery)

[Paul-Simon]

[h2]Now this is a bit of a read, but you like cats, right? You can endure a story.[/H2]

[B]CHAPTER 1[/B]

The 22'nd of July, I was at a BBQ in the Royal Norwegian Navy auxiliary base (Olavsvern) in Tromsø. We're celebrating my niece being baptised.
Me and the rest of my family is there, we're doing normal things like eating cake and hot dogs and drinking soda.
After a while, it gets boring, and the father of my nieces dad (Which is a high-ranking guy and sort of the boss of this place) tells us he'll show us around the submarine area, and also tell us to not take any pictures while we're there. Sure, that sounds exciting!
Me and some other people, including my mother and my brother, join him. First we walk around in the underground place, and check out cool things like pressure chambers. There is a huge tunnel going underground, we go through it and eventually we reach the submarine deployment area. Sadly, there were no submarines there at the time. At the end of the tunnel there was a couple of canals for the submarines to leave and go into the ocean.

Now, we're starting to hear this high pitched sound. We don't think much of it to begin with, but it gets louder and louder. It did sound almost like a cat. It definetly sounded like a cat.
Then suddenly, at the other side of a submarine canal (Which is filled with ocean water by the way) we notice this very small black and white cat, coming towards us and meowing desperately.
Only problem is, well, it's still on the other side of the ocean filled canal designed to have submarines pass through it. There were also a noticeable powerful current of water going towards the sea.
Now is when things started to get scary, the cat was so desperate that it seemed to want to try jumping in and attempt to swim over, and it kept leaning over the edge, looking down at the water.

Here's an image taken at that moment (The very first photograph of him):
[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/About%20to%20jump.jpg[/img]

Then, a guy from the group ran into the tunnel, and made the cat follow him along the edge. The guy spotted that there was a way over inside the tunnel, and he managed to get the cat over to our side.

We got to take a closer look at it, I was completely in love with by those big eyes of his, he looked so scared. And those whiskers make him look old and wisened somehow.
Anyways, it became very obvious that this cat was alone, and had been alone for quite some time. It was awfully thin, and was shaking. Other than that, it seemed unscratched.

Here's an image of it right after we brought it back to the main building:
[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/We%20will%20help%20you%2C%20don%27t%20worry.jpg[/img]
Sorry for the awful quality, I didn't exactly have the best camera at the time.

We then continued to give the cat something to eat. We had loads of delicious meaty food, but we did limit how much it got to eat (Just to ensure it didn't eat so much it would get sick).
We also gave him some water to drink.

Now came the big question, what should we do with him? We surely couldn't just throw him out, he was way too cute for that. Me bringing it home was out of question, as we already had a cat named [I]Felix[/I].
Then a relative of me told us that she could take it for the time being. And she did.

For a couple of weeks, we heard little about how things went. Then some day we got a call from this relative of ours. She told us that she was unable to keep the cat after all, as she wasn't really allowed to have animals in the apartment she lived in.
Me and my brother convinced our mother to let us keep him.
Some days later, she came with the cat.
Our previous cat, named Felix, was a pretty cool guy, he took this whole thing rather chill, but [I]Alex[/I] was pretty scared to begin with: (We had now decided upon that name)
[img]http://puu.sh/dCHv[/img]

But that didn't last for long, as he bravely tried to become the new boss of the house:
[img]http://puu.sh/dCJk[/img]
[img]http://puu.sh/dCJP[/img]

After a while, things calmed down, Alex got safer around us and around Felix.
[img]http://puu.sh/dCLl[/img]
[img]http://puu.sh/dCMm[/img]

[B]CHAPTER 2[/B]

One day, old Felix didn't come in even at night when we checked outside the door. Well, we weren't surprised, he had a tendency to stay out for quite some time now and then.
But then 3 days passed.
And then a week.
And then a month.
And then two months.
At this stage, we had done everything we could to find him, and we had really given up hope. Alex had grown quite a bit, and was now bigger than what Felix used to be.

One morning though, I woke up to my brother yelling "FELIX!?".
He had come back after around 60 days, but not unscratched...
We couldn't quite tell what was wrong, but he kind of just fell into a coma as soon as he managed to get inside the door.
He was incredibly thin, he was very dirty, and he also seemed damaged. But he was still alive, so we let him sleep for a while. I tried to wake him up by dripping milk into his mouth, but there was no reaction. I was kind of starting to think that he had died, but he was still breathing.
Some hours later, he woke up. He was silent like always. He was able to eat and drink now, and we had put Alex into one of our bedrooms so that he would leave Felix alone for the time being.
It had become too late to call the vet (they had closed by now), so we just had to stay with him for the night, and hope that he would stay with us.
We were still not aware of how massively damaged he was.

We noticed that he was not able to walk, and he didn't even try to walk. We at first assumed that it was because he was exhausted, but when he started to drag himself along using his front paws, we understood that something was reall really wrong. One of his sides were scraped up and bloody, though it wasn't bleeding at the moment. We cleaned it as much as we could.
Even after these signs, we were still unable to realize how bad this was.

That night he slept on a big pillow on the floor in my room, and I woke up with him pulling in the bedsheet. He tried to get himself up, but he had no chance. He was still pretty dirty (We weren't able to wash him completely, as he's not very fond of water and we also wanted to let him rest) and I usually didn't like him being in my bed, but I had a feeling he had little time remaining, so I lifted him carefully and placed him by my feet.
He slowly dragged himself up to my head, and went to sleep by my pillow.

The next morning, we took him to the vet, and got some really bad news. He had broken his back, likely because of a car, and he was paralyzed in around 80% of the body.
He had lived in this condition for two months. And he had managed to get himself to us, who knows how far, on gravel and asphalt, and up the stone staircase outside the house. And he had done this by dragging himself sideways with his front paws. I couldn't imagine what torture he had endured the past two months. I still don't know how he survived in that state.
With that said, it had become pretty clear that we would have to put him to sleep. Part of me said that we shouldn't, because of all he had endured to finally get home. But, I accepted that he still had to be in huge pains, and that it would be torture. (If there existed super treatment for pets, we wouldn't have afforded it anyways :I)
so, he was put to sleep that day, and it was sad as one can expect.

Alex didn't seem to be very bothered, as he now was the new king of the house. That sort of annoyed me, but I guess he didn't know better.

[B]CHAPTER 3[/B]

Fast forward a couple of years.
Alex is around three years old now, and he still hasn't come over the kitten phase. He still acts like a kitten.
Now, we've figured that he must've been separated from his mother way too early, as he is kind of stupid in some ways. For one, he doesn't know fear. If in example a car comes driving towards him, he'll be like "The hell do you want" without moving. And he'll just continue staring at the car until the driver gets out and lifts him outta the road. Even the vacuum cleaner doesn't bother him at all. He is also completely comfortable with laying on his back, with his stomach exposed. Even outside. (Not sure if that is normal)
He is also very dependent on us, and will always come lie down besides us, or just sit down and watch what we're doing. He never stays out for long periods either.

Here's some pictures of how Alex looks today (Click for 1920x1080):
[url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/Don%27t%20give%20me%20that%20look.jpg][img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/Don%27t%20give%20me%20that%20look%20small.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/Cat%20time.jpg][img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/Cat%20time%20small.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/Cat%20in%20bookshelf.jpg][img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/Cat%20in%20bookshelf%20small.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/a%20bit%20out%20of%20focus.jpg][img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/a%20bit%20out%20of%20focus%20small.jpg[/img][/url]

[h2]And that is pretty much the end of this story.[/h2]
I'm not sure why I decided to spend so much time typing out all of this, but I hope you enjoyed it.
If I've made any errors, or you have any questions, post away.

[Protocol7]

My cat is like your Alex

Had no mother during early years so acts really weird. My cat's also 17 pounds though :v:

[DaBigManZM]

Japanese general.

[Paul-Simon]

[QUOTE=DaBigManZM;34246641]Japanese general.[/QUOTE]

Would you care to elaborate on that seemingly random post?

[Ctrl+Alt+Llama]

My cat is like that still behaves like a kitten. Like people some cats never grow up. If you really want him to you'll need to do some behavioral therapy. Its what i had to do with mine to stop him standing in the road. Source: 2 years work at cat's protection.

Edit:
Oh dear, skim read it. I'm sad now :( I'm so sorry.

[rosthouse]

I have something in my eyes, excuse me for a second...

Seriously though, touching story. Hopefully you'll get to keep Alex for a long time. Shame about Felix, brave little cat.

[nVidia]

Awww, cute story.
I feel sorry for Felix though. >:

[The First 11'er]

Alex is like a cat model.

[The_J_Hat]

D'aww.

This makes me want to hug my cat, now.

[bishibosh]

[QUOTE=Protocol7;34246605]My cat is like your Alex

Had no mother during early years so acts really weird. My cat's also 17 pounds though :v:[/QUOTE]

I have a 20lb cat.

His name is Bella.

[MisterM]

Heart warming story, must be wonderful to give an animal a home like that. Would make putting it to sleep a very hard thing but you did the right thing given its suffering.

I must say, those are absolutely adorable photos of Alex! Thanks for the new desktop!

[Keyblockor]

When a cat lies on it's back it's a sign that it's content, in the question about Alex lying on his back.

[Scientwist]

My cat Angelus is alot like Alex except he has more white on his face and around his neck. Tuxedo cats are win.

[Grenadiac]

Felix fought all the odds to make it back to you only to be put down. :(

I can see how it was the moral thing to do but at the same time, it just seems wrong.

[Jim_Riley]

[QUOTE=paul simon;34246584]
He had broken his back, likely because of a car, and he was paralyzed in around 80% of the body.
He had lived in this condition for two months. And he had managed to get himself to us, who knows how far, on gravel and asphalt, and up the stone staircase outside the house. And he had done this by dragging himself sideways with his front paws. I couldn't imagine what torture he had endured the past two months. I still don't know how he survived in that state.[/QUOTE]

This part in particular caught my attention.

A few years ago my own cat, named Fuzzy, was hit by a car (if anyone actually remembers, a few years ago I posted the story here and actually had quite the support. "Fight for Fuzzy" being the slogan. If anyone remembers that....). She got extremely lucky as she must have tried to dart past it or something and just got nicked. She split her lower jaw in two, fractured a part of her skull and broke one of her paws. Unbelievably, she made her way back to my house, scaled the 7 foot fence around the house, and hopped to the back door. We were given the choice to put her down or pay for the surgery to fix her up. We obviously paid for the the expensive surgery. She's filled with metal from reconstructive surgery but she's alive and well and still trouble :P

Here she is, alive and well now:

[IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/fuzzy.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/fuzzy2.jpg[/IMG]

In both our cases, it's the idea that despite their independence and solidarity, deep down inside they know exactly where they can run to be safe and in the company of creatures they can trust. It's the love like that from a pet that makes you appreciate and love them even more. I don't want you to feel guilty but Felix fought hard to get back to those he trusted and knew he would be safe from ANY trouble. It's too bad you unfortunately decided to go the route you did in the end...

Regardless, I feel for you OP and I can relate. I rate you heart.

[Grenadiac]

One of our cats went missing - darted out the back door. She'd been an inside cat all her life so after two weeks we were pretty sure it was over. We made a little memorial for her in the backyard, with her food bowl sitting on top of it and a little picture of her in the bottom - next morning we went out to find her laying asleep in the bowl, pretty as you please. Cheeky bitch, but we were glad to have her back!

[Scientwist]

Angelus pulled the same thing on my family and I too. He went missing for almost 2 months, just gone and one day was back. I still wonder where he went went to because he smelled like shampoo. :/

Hearts to you man, It hurts losing a fuzzy friend like that.

[thrawn2787]

Sorry to hear about Felix. Alex is really cute. If I where you I'd make him an indoor cat after what happened to Felix / if he doesn't dodge cars.

[Vitamine D]

Wow what never put a cat to sleep :<

[silverhawk79]

Poor Felix. We may have to do that to one of my cats...she's got liver issues, or something. The vets don't quite know what's wrong. It could be nothing, or it could be irreversible liver damage.

[Sumap]

Goddamnit they both look like one of my cats that ran away when I was around ~11[img]http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-smith.gif[/img]
I also rescued one of my cats, Inca, around 5 winters ago, found him huudle on the side of the country road to the city in -30 degree weather, nothing but skin and bones.
Now he's 20 pound softy, who enjoys smothering me, and actually scared off a dog that was acting pretty viciously a while back.
[img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6651544329_0035e39351_z.jpg[/img]
He also had some kittens with my other cat that I mentions above, and I kept a little black one, Shadow.

Also, for a super depressing story, I got a cat from the pound, named it Long John Silver. It got sick and had to be put down the very next day. [img]http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-smithicide.gif[/img]

[Nerdrage]

My cat, Prosha, ran away about a week ago, a day before we moved house.

even if he comes back, we won't be there to find him :(

[KarloMcMarlo]

No offense but: Those eyes stare into your [I]SOUL.[/I]

[rosthouse]

[QUOTE=Nerdrage;34254764]My cat, Prosha, ran away about a week ago, a day before we moved house.

even if he comes back, we won't be there to find him :([/QUOTE]

Didn't you give the new owners a picture of your cat and a number to call you, incase he comes back?

[🅱️🅰️LLS. ➿]

[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8478604/Good%20photography/a%20bit%20out%20of%20focus%20small.jpg[/img]

DAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW :3

[:v:]

I feel ashamed to be on Facepunch and not find these cats cute. Don't get me wrong, I love cats, but only really small kittens. Big cats aren't D'awwww cute to me, only kittens are.

[urundeadmom]

When i was younger we had two Persian cats, who were beautiful but they had terrible diabetes and were living in pain so we had to put them down they looked something like this :(
[IMG]http://www.daphnesdolls.com/rose_and_tiger_lily.jpg[/IMG]

by the way op your cat Alex is really beautiful, like seriously thats is one damn nice cat, nice clean colors too.

[werner]

Very emotional after reading that... I have had same experience aswell.
I had a cat once who also was lost for few days, and one day when I went outside I saw him crawling towards home, with his back broken, he died after that.

[schleimgurke1]

I didn't read but your cats are cute

I approve

[Paul-Simon]

[QUOTE=schleimgurke1;34259935]I didn't read but your cats are cute

I approve[/QUOTE]

I expected that from most :v: