Saying farewell to Streaky Bell

I have written in the past that the toughest part of having an animal companion is saying goodbye, and it strikes home hard this week.

By the time you read this, we will have said goodbye to our loving little buddy, Streaky Bell. Yes, that was his name, the choice of nine-year-old Mary, who liked Supergirl and was studying the invention of the telephone in school.

Streaky Bell joined our family 20 years ago, a mischievous little Bengal kitten, looking for whatever trouble he could get into. We knew what we were getting into with a Bengal, in fact, we sought it out. And he lived up to the billing.

Bengals are known for the way the ‘wild’ genes affect their behaviour. They are more muscular, have striking markings, and love water. Streaky snuck into the shower or bath whenever he could. Bengals owe their uniqueness to the fact they have a recent injection of Asian leopard cat into the domestic cat line. Each generation removed from that mating increases the F number, with F1 being the first generation; thus, F5 is five breedings away from wild. The higher the F number, the less influence the wild cat makes. Streaky was an F6 from what we were told, so he wasn’t oversized or overly wild, but still had enough to make him different, and he had the striking coat.

Friends of ours took his sister, and it was interesting to compare the two. He was ‘wilder’, she was more restrained. He was raw-fed, she was on dry vet food. That gave us an interesting metric to observe, as well, but that’s a story for another time.

When we first got him, Streaky had a very concerning health issue, and after repeated visits to the vet, he was diagnosed with feline colitis. That was kind of interesting, as Mary had been recently diagnosed with Crohn’s, giving them that in common. We switched him to a fully canned diet, and his gut settled down. But still he had issues, which persisted though his first five years. Even with those, he still continuously tested his boundaries, except for going outside. I’m not sure if cats can be agoraphobic, but taking Streaky outside in a harness ended with a lot of claw marks on my body. So, we didn’t do that. Sitting on the egress window ledge in the basement, though – that was his happy place.

Streaky has been mentioned numerous times in my columns and became the poster boy for the store after we switched him to raw foods. His medical problems pretty much vanished once his gut didn’t have to deal with processed foods. It’s so much easier to describe the benefits of raw foods when you have a personal story to tell, and Streaky was the perfect example.

He had his colitis and who knows what other hereditary issues. In his first eight years, we had thousands in vet bills for complications of colitis and urinary issues, even on 100-per-cent quality, grain-free, 90-per-cent-plus meat canned foods. In the past 12 years on raw, we had two vet bills. Like I said, he was the poster boy for raw feeding.

He and Mary have been together for all those 20 years. Through good times and bad, they have always had each other. He recently began to have issues, not unexpected in a 20-year-old cat. Turns out he has an inoperable mass in his throat and irreversible renal failure. His systems are just shutting down.

Mary and Ryle had to make the tough decision, and contacted Sunset Veterinary Care to come to the home so he could pass in familiar surroundings. Professional and empathic, the vets and their in-home services are a godsend for people who want to make this heartbreaking moment a little easier, and we are fortunate they chose to make this their calling.

We can never replace an animal companion. At best we can find another to continue their mission.