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An ode to O’Malley

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Many years ago, at my very first job, I had the good fortune to meet a technician who was also to become a wonderful friend. We were young, both new to our jobs, and flush with the excitement of entering this field. We had new pets: I had Emmett, 2 at the time, and had recently rescued Mulan as a 5 year old. Amber had just adopted an adorable orange fluffball named O’Malley.

O’Malley was many things: confident, sassy, a bit of a handful. And by “a bit” I mean “a majorly huge handful.” He’d pounce on your head while you were sitting on the couch, bite the dog on the tail and then act offended when the dog reacted, swipe you across the face just for walking by. He would wait until Amber finished cooking dinner, and then just as they were sitting down, he’d go into the litterbox and foul the air with his stinkiness. Every night.

Later in life, O’Malley moved in with another good friend who is also a technician, Libby. Libby’s task was even more challenging, since she inherited not an adorable orange fluffball but an ornery Garfield lookalike with a nasty case of asthma. She tirelessly nursed him through his wheezing, whittled his weight down to a manageable size, and loved him despite his penchant for pooping at inopportune times.

Libby called me this morning to talk to me about O’Malley’s sudden and alarming deterioration in the last month or so. She brought him right in, and the second I saw him I knew he was in a bad place. The cocky arrogant Mr. Suave looked tiny, skeletal, and scared. Something evil and insidious had swooped in on him unaware and now, at a mere 8 years old, he was ready to make an early exit.

Amber made the 2 hour drive with her 8 month old baby to join us, and I numbly started thinking about her tireless support and love when both Emmett and Mulan were sick. She drove Mulan to radiation appointments for me, personally gave Emmett his chemo, and drove to my home, twice, to administer those last injections I couldn’t bring myself to do on my own. This was a debt I owed her, but really, really didn’t want to pay back.

Amber, Libby and I sat quietly wiping away tears as O’Malley slipped soundlessly from this world. As we surrounded him, petting his still body, a sudden enormous howling erupted from outside.

“Guess he decided to take one last swipe on his way up,” I whispered, and we all laughed. It’s true. Feisty to the end.

Rest in peace, O’Malley. Actually- wait a minute. Forget that. Rest in Feistiness, Mallers. There’s someone named Kevin who needs a big bite in the face if you see him, OK?

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Comments

  1. oh my gosh 🙁 im sitting here bawling right now. animals shouldnt die. my cat got hit by a car a few weeks ago. stupid guy didnt even stop and just left her by the side of the road. needless to say now all my cats stay indoors… this sucks, such wonderful creatures really should live longer…

  4. Aww – Poor O’Malley. I’ve got a soft spot for the marmies. They always tug at my heart, no matter how crazy they are. I’m glad you all got to spend his last moments with him. (((hugs)))

  5. My thoughts are with all of you, as I sit here at work wiping away tears once again. I’m glad that you at least have each other. Give Kevin a big, nasty swipe for us, O’Malley!

  7. I’m glad you all were there for O’Malley who, from the sounds of it, was badass in all the best ways possible. Hope Kevin gets what’s coming to him!

  12. I am so sorry to hear that such a wonderful spirit had to go to Kevin way too soon. Giant, warm hugs to you, Amber and Libby. I think I shall now go watch AristoCats in O’Malley’s honor.

  13. poor kitty 🙁 I hate it when they go before their time. My mom and I went away for a weekend, and we live in a very rural area, in the middle of the woods, so our cats were indoor outdoor, so we left them outside for the weekend with the downstairs window open so the cats could get in and eat. When we came back, she came home and looked really weird, and she wouldn’t eat. Back and forth to the vet for a whole month and we couldnt figure out what was wrong with her. She starved herself to the point of death and no one could figure out why, and we had to have her put down. Our vet did an autopsy free of charge and discovered it was fatty liver syndrom. 🙁 We burried her in the back yard in our old garden where she used to hang out all the time.

  14. *hugs* to you, Amber and Libby.

    I have a feeling O’Malley is giving some special pups a hard time up there.

  15. Aww so sorry, so sad. But O”malley is scratching butt and taking names up there . You better Watch out Kevin …..

  16. You are amazing Dr V. O’Malley would bite my chin while I was sleeping and scratch me when I would play fight my husband, and he would stalk me when I would get up and leave early for work, but there was just something special about him… My husband even wrote him letters when he was in Iraq, it was mostly to tell him to not bite me and make me laugh 🙂 You and Libby are such great friends to me and I am glad he was loved by others too, he was sometimes hard to love 🙂 RIP O’Malley, tell Kevin we said “hey” and make him feed you lots of tuna!