Tragically Unlucky Felix Is Killed Off by a Shelter in Halle but It Is Far from Clear Whether It Was Pancreatitis or a Broken Heart That Led to His Demise

Felix Was Emaciated and Withdrawn When He Arrived at the Shelter

"Traurig verkroch er sich in einer Höhle, ließ sich tagelang nicht blicken. Letztendlich erkranke Felix in seinem Kummer sehr schwer."

-- Katzenschutzverein Halle

The death of any cat is difficult to take and that goes doubly for those that are intentionally killed off by veterinarians and shelters as well as those that meet with foul play. That deplorable situation is compounded by the abysmal lack of progress that the bloodsucking veterinary medical profession has made in the diagnosis and treatment of preeminently remediable ailments.

A good case in point has been the tragic and premature demise of a handsome and long-suffering tuxedo of undetermined age named Felix from Halle in Saxony Anhalt. Nothing is known about his birth and kittenhood but for the last three years of his life he resided, apparently happily, with an elderly female guardian.

As it so often occurs under such circumstances, her health suddenly deteriorated in either late last summer or during the early days of autumn and she was forced to enter an Altersheim. Since she had neglected to make any provisions for his continued care, he was left all alone in the world without any prospects.

What happened to him next has not been divulged but it is entirely possible that he could have been left in his former owner's residence for an extended period of time where he was subjected to all sorts of deprivations. If that or something very similar to it is indeed what took place, the very best that can be said for his dilemma is that at least he was not left alone with her body as happened to a ten-year-old tuxedo named Ian from Knightwick Crescent in the Kingstanding section of north Birmingham after his elderly owner had died in May of 2013.

"The circumstances were very sad and it must have been awful for the cat," Sheila Pennell of Cats Protection in Birmingham later said. "He was trapped indoors wondering why his owner wouldn't wake up, feed him or let him out." (See Cat Defender post of July 27, 2013 entitled "Instead of Killing Her Off with a Jab of Sodium Pentobarbital and Then Burning Her Corpse, Ian Remains Steadfast at His Guardian's Side Long after Her Death.") 

One way or the other Felix eventually wound up at Katzenschutzverein Halle (Katzenhaus Halle) in either late September or early October but by that time he was already in bad shape. In particular, he was not eating and drinking and his body temperature had dropped to below normal.

He was taken to two veterinarians but neither of them was willing to do anything constructive for him. One of the bloodsuckers even wanted to kill him off, for a hefty fee of course, on the spot.

Mercifully, Katzenhaus Halle was not yet quite ready to throw in the towel on him. Instead, the charity placed him in foster care with a guardian who took him to an undisclosed surgery where he was administered intravenous fluids.

For a while his condition improved, his body temperature normalized and he appeared to be gaining strength. Leider, nothing good ever lasts for very long in this world and when his health began to falter once again he was taken to see a veterinarian in Leipzig, forty-three kilometers southeast of Halle. 

At that surgery he was diagnosed to be suffering from Bauchspeicheldrüsentzündung (severe pancreatitis), Bauchfellbeteiligung (peritonitis), and Ödeme und keine Nekrosen (edema without any dying tissues).

Once the pancreas becomes inflamed its digestive enzymes begin to attack fats and proteins in adjacent organs. In other words, the body begins to digest itself. (See PetMD, December 18, 2008, "Inflammation of the Pancreas in Cats.")

Peritonitis is an inflammation of the peritoneum, or the lining of the abdomen and other organs in the pelvic region. Edema, which can be either localized or diffuse, is a swelling due to an accumulation of fluids in a cat's tissues and organs.

Some of the symptoms most commonly associated with pancreatitis are fever, anorexia, weight loss, dehydration, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, depression, an increased heart rate, and labored breathing. The cause of the malady is not exactly known but abdominal trauma, bites from scorpions, ticks, and snakes, exposure to organophosphate insecticides, infections such as toxoplasmosis, Feline Panleukopenia (FP), the parvovirus, and severe malnutrition have all been implicated. 

As best it could be determined, there is not any specific cure for the disease. Treatment accordingly is pretty much limited to supportive care consisting of intravenous fluids, hydration, an avoidance of dry food, pain medications, and antibiotics.

A short time thereafter, Felix's intestines stopped functioning and when he cried out, allegedly in pain, on Monday, October 11th that was the beginning of the end for him. A day later on Tuesday, October 12th Katzenhaus Halle had him killed off.

"Nach tagelanger intensiv Medizinischer Betreuung in der Tierklinik hat er es leider trotzdem nicht geschafft," the charity conceded in an addendum to Tag24 of Dresden's earlier report of October 9th. (See "Kater Felix musste sein Zuhause verlassen, nun kämpft er mit einem gebrochenem Herzen und um sein Leben.") "Leider müssen wir euch unter Tränen mitteilen das Felix heute über die Regenbogenbrücke gegangen ist." 

Although what Katzenhaus Halle did to Felix was nothing short of premeditated murder, the charity is nevertheless to be commended for its willingness to have devoted more than €2,600 to his care. "Wir kämpfen für jedes einzelne Tier auch wenn es viel Leid und Schmerz mit sich bringt, denn jedes unserer Schützlinge hat das Recht auf eine Chance," it vowed to Tag24.

In this instance, however, its efforts were woefully insufficient and its decision to have given up on Felix is indefensible. "Wir haben gekämpft, gehofft und doch verloren," it summed up.

In addition to waging an uphill struggle against pancreatitis, Katzenhaus Halle also believed that it was dealing with a broken heart. "Wir wünschen und hoffen alle für das Katerchen, dass es schnell wieder gesund ist und möchten ihm helfen nochmal ein richtig schönes, liebevolles Zuhause zu finden, wo er den Schock der Trennung von seinem geliebten Frauchen vergisst und weiter ein glückliches, ubeschwertes Katerleben führen kann."

In support of its theory, Katzenhaus Halle cites Felix's despondency upon his arrival. "Plötzlich brach für ihn die altverfraute Welt zusammen. Der arme Kater wusste nicht was los war," it told Tag24. "Traurig verkroch er sich in einer Höhle, ließ sich tagelang nicht blicken. Letztendlich erkranke Felix in seinem Kummer sehr schwer."

Anyone who has ever bothered to get to know a cat, or any animal for that matter, quickly understands that they are fully capable of experiencing grief, love, loss, joy and all the other emotions just as they feel pain, fear, the cold, and the approach of death. For example, a three-year-old gray and white tom named Toldo from Montagnana in the province of Padova regularly visited the grave of his former owner, Renzo Iozzelli, after he died on September 22, 2011.

Not only that but he also brought along with him gifts, such as sticks, leaves, twigs, plastic, cups, and paper towels, that he thought his owner might need in the afterlife. (See Cat Defender post of March 28, 2013 entitled "Even the Finality of the Grave Fails to Diminish Toldo's Abiding Love and Devotion for His Long Dead Guardian.")

Later in 2017, an unidentified white cat was discovered regularly visiting the grave of Ismail Mat in Malaysia even though his survivors were unaware of any previous relationship between the pair. (See The Mirror of London, September 19, 2017, "Mysterious White Cat Appears During Malaysian Man's Funeral and 'Refuses' to Leave His Grave.")

Also in Malaysia, a yellow cat named Nana stopped eating and became sick, like Felix, after her owner, a retired schoolteacher, died in 2020. Once she had recovered she began visiting, and even sleeping, on top of his grave and that continued for at least two years.

In addition to all of that, she would also pay regular visits to his automobile and swing. (See Bild der Frau of Berlin, October 1, 2020, "Katze Nana besucht seit zwei Jahren das Grab ihres Herrchens.")

At Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, a cat named Oscar has demonstrated that he can more accurately predict when a patient is about to die than the physicians on staff. Not only does he know when the Grim Reaper is about to strike, but he voluntarily takes it upon himself to crawl in bed with those that are about to depart in order to comfort them in their last moments. (See Cat Defender posts of July 30, 2007 and May 27, 2010 entitled, respectively, "A Visit from Oscar Means That the Grim Reaper Cannot Be Far Behind for the Terminally Ill at a Rhode Island Nursing Home" and "When Lovers, Friends, Health, and All Hope Have Vanished, Oscar Is There for Those Who Have No One and Nothing Left.") 

That is just one more piece of evidence in support of the moral imperative that there is not any humane way of killing a cat. (See Cat Defender post of April 8, 2018 entitled "A Rare Behind the Scenes Glimpse at the Ruthless Murders of Two Cats by an Indiana Veterinarian Exposes All Those Who Claim That Lethal Injections Are Humane to Be Barefaced Liars.") 

Although it would appear au premier coup d'oeil that all the love and devotion that cats so freely lavish upon their primarily callous, uncaring, and exploitative owners is lost, that is not necessarily always the case. Au contraire, occasionally their sentiments are reciprocated.

For example, fifty-eight-year-old Alan Jordan of Tredworth in Gloucester City, Gloucestershire, hanged himself in March of 2011 after his cat disappeared. (See Cat Defender post of January 2, 2012 entitled "With No Reason Left to Go on Living, a Tredworth Resident Takes His Own Life after His Beloved Cat Disappears.")

Felix's Health Improved for a While Before Deteriorating

                       

Later on December 21, 2011, forty-four-year-old Michael McAleese of Poole in Dorset took his own life with an overdose of drugs after his cat, Sophie, had died of a stroke. "I tried to persuade him life was more than a cat, but in his case it wasn't," his landlady, Adriana Van Dijk, said following his suicide. (See Cat Defender post of June 12, 2012 entitled "Sophie's Death Proves to Be Too Much of a Burden for a Bachelor in Poole to Bear So He Elects to Join Her in the Great Void.")

Like cats, dog also mourn for their departed owners. For example, after Lance Coporal Liam Tasker of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps was killed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on March 1, 2011 his bomb-sniffing partner, a springer-spaniel-mix named Theo, died of a seizure several hours later. Since he apparently had not suffered any physical injuries, his death was chalked up to a broken heart. (See The Courier of Dundee, December 19 2021, "Fallen Fife Solider Liam Tasker 'Remembered Forever' Alongside His Loyal Dog.")

After an unidentified man had jumped from the Yangtze River Bridge in Wuhan in Hubei Province on May 30, 2020, his faithful dog was spotted for days thereafter waiting patiently on the spot for his return. (See the London Metro, June 9, 2020, "Grieving Dog Waits on Bridge for Owner after They (sic) Jumped into River.")

Following the murder of crusading Mexican journalist Lourdes Maldonado Lopéz on January 23rd in the Las Villas neighborhood of Tijuana, her dog, Chato, waited for days at her door hoping that she would soon return home. (See the London Metro, January 25, 2022, "Heartbreaking Photos of Dog Waiting Patiently on the Doorstep of Murdered Owner.")

Aristotle most assuredly was acutely aware that cats and other animals have personalities and emotions and man's stubborn refusal to acknowledge that readily observable fact can only be attributed to his unquenchable thirst for shedding innocent blood and the beaucoup trillions of dollars that he rakes in each year by exploiting and killing animals. Therefore, the pertinent question is not whether cats and other animals have souls, but rather does man have one? In that light, it is interesting to point out that there are passages in Plato's Phaedo that strongly imply that only Socrates has a soul.

Yet in spite of all of that few individuals within the feline protection movement are willing to publicly acknowledge just how traumatic it truly is for a cat to lose both its guardian and home in one cruel twist of fate. Then to be unjustly incarcerated in a small cage at some hellhole shelter is, quite obviously, a great deal more than all but the healthiest and emotionally strongest of them are able to endure.

Furthermore, just as cats have feelings and emotions, they also have different personalities and histories; one size does not fit all. In particular, elderly cats who have spent any measurable amount of time locked away indoors with an owner in a one-person household have an especially difficult time of adjusting to life in a shelter after they have lost their owners and homes.

Deprived of all contact with other felines and the great outdoors, a cat's guardian becomes its only star in the firmament and when that individual either dies or deserts it for an old folks' home the light quite often goes out in its life and it is unable to cope on its own in an alien and hostile environment. Most individuals would experience similar difficulties under like circumstances but, being the callous and unfeeling monsters that they are, they prefer to believe the utter nonsense that René Descartes espoused in his 1637 work, Discours de la Méthode, and to cavalierly dismiss all animals as soulless machines.

For example, when a very special tom named Harvey from West Yorkshire lost his elderly guardian a few years back he never was able to adjust to his altered circumstances. His life therefore quickly spiraled out of control and into a succession of failed adoptions and short stays in foster care that were interrupted only by intermittent return trips to Yorkshire Cat Rescue in Keighley. (See Cat Defender posts of August 31, 2017, March 12, 2018, July 29, 2019, and October 27, 2020 entitled, respectively, "With His Previous Owner Long Dead and Nobody Seemingly Willing to Give Him a Second Chance at Life, Old and Ailing Harvey Has Been Sentenced to Rot at a Shelter in Yorkshire," "Much Like a Nightmare That Stubbornly Refuses to End, Harvey Continues to Be Shuttled from One Home to Another at the Expense of His Health and Well-Being," "Repeatedly Shunned, Maligned, and Bandied About from One Place to Another, Harvey Is Now Engaged in the Most Important Battle of His Life," and "Noble and Courageous Harvey Who So Desperately Wanted to Go on Living Is Instead Unforgivably Betrayed and Killed Off by His Foster Mother and Yorkshire Cat Rescue.") 

Not a good deal is either written or understood about the so-called broken heart syndrome in cats but veterinarian Jennifer Coates is of the opinion that sudden surges in adrenaline and other stress hormones can harm the heart, depress the immune system, and greatly reduce appetite. (See PetMD, November 7, 2017, "Can Pets Die of a Broken Heart?")

Felix accordingly could have become despondent over the death of his owner and stopped eating and that in turn led to the onset of pancreatitis. On the other hand, it is equally conceivable that he could have been left alone in his former owner's home without adequate food and water and that in turn precipitated his physical woes and soon thereafter he lost the will to live.

For example, the latter scenario is what happened to a beautiful black female named Susi from Basel in 2019. After her owner, Lucy F., entered a nursing home she was inexcusably left alone in their old abode for nearly four months with little or no food and water as well as a total lack of companionship and any treatment whatsoever for an existing thyroid condition.

Lucy F. tried her best to save her but a private nursing service, a public welfare agency, and her own guardian all neglected to do their jobs and that led to Susi dying a protracted and hideous death. (See Cat Defender post of July 13, 2019 entitled "Susi Is Knowingly Left All Alone in an Empty Apartment to Slowly Die of Starvation and Untreated Hyperthyroidism after Her Owner Is Confined to an Old Folks' Home.")

Even though Katzenhaus Halle had the bon sens to recognize that Felix was suffering from something akin to a gebrochenem Herz, it apparently did little or nothing in order to treat his psychological condition. Whereas to properly diagnose and treat a cat with a broken heart would tax the resources of the Freuds and Jungs of today, the shelter could have at least provided him with  playmate or, better still, promptly placed him in a permanent home with a new guardian who would have been willing and able to have showered him with around-the-clock affection and companionship until his spirits improved.

Considering his other health woes, that might not have helped all that much but it at the very least would have convincingly demonstrated to him that he was not alone in this big and frightening world and that someone cared deeply about him. That most assuredly would have been far better than incarcerating and murdering him.

The only way to alleviate the plight of cats such as Felix, Ian, Harvey, and Susi is for their owners to make provisions for their continued care well before they either become incapacitated or cross over the Regenbogenbrücke themselves. Such arrangements can be made in either a will or by entrusting the care of a cat to a responsible family member.

No arrangement is foolproof, however, and even those felines that are entrusted to the care of family members sometimes come to bad ends. (See Cat Defender post of January 11, 2012 entitled "A Deadly Intrigue Concocted by a Thief, a Shelter, and a Veterinary Chain Costs Ginger the Continued Enjoyment of His Golden Years.")

Perhaps the best solution was the one decided upon by Karin Tietz of Robel in Mecklenburg Vorpommern who refused to enter an old folks' home until she had secured a new guardian for her cat, Felix. (See Cat Defender post of August 31, 2019 entitled "A Devoted Robelerin Adamantly Refuses to Enter an Altersheim Until She Has Successfully Secured a New Guardian for Her Beloved Felix.")

The obvious drawback with waiting until the last minute in order to act is that no one knows when either he or she is going to kick the bucket or become incapacitated in some way. As a result, many otherwise responsible owners procrastinate for too late and that in turn leaves their cats in totally untenable situations. (See Cat Defender post of November 22, 2020 entitled "Slow Deaths Trapped Inside Apartments, Precarious Existences on the Street, and Swift Executions at the Hands of Veterinarians and the Operators of Shelters Are about All That Elderly Cats Can Expect in Return for Their Years of Love and Devotion to Their Ungrateful Owners.")

Sometimes the cruel fate that befell Felix, Ian, Harvey, Susi, and countless other cats is unavoidable. Old, sickly, and alone in the world themselves, many pensioners reach a point in their lives where they are no longer capable of caring for either themselves or their cats. Once that occurs, they are more dependent upon their companions than vice-versa.

In spite of the myriad of difficulties involved, the stubborn reality remains that if they do not make provisions for the continued care of their cats it is highly improbable that anyone else is going to jump into the breech and do their jobs for them. Consequently, if it is at all possible, they need to act resolutely and in a timely fashion.

In Felix's case, if Katzenhaus Halle had truly believed that he was dying of a broken heart the obvious palliative would have been for it to have reunited him with his former owner at the Altersheim. Life is messy enough to begin with but when affairs of the heart are involved it gets even messier and in that light it is long overdue for old folks' homes to amend their policies and to make provisions so as to allow their residents to bring their cats and other pets with them if they so desire.

Even an occasional visit from time to time just might have been sufficient in order to have saved Felix's life. It certainly would have been worth trying. 

Changing attitudes and policies as well a enlarging existing facilities in order to accommodate cats and other animals is not going to be an easy feat to accomplish but the immeasurable benefits that would no doubt accrue to all concerned most definitely make attempting to do so worthwhile. Even now some attitudes are beginning to change but not nearly fast enough. (See Cat Defender post of May 10, 2016  entitled "A London Hospital Waives Its Draconian Anti-Cat Rules and Grants the Final Wish of a Cancer Victim by Allowing Her to See Her Beloved Patch One Last Time.")

Given that both Felix's suffering and premature death were preeminently preventable, his passing is especially mournful. Katzenhaus Halle owed him far more than he received from it.

Finally, both Katzenhaus Halle and Tag24 are conspicuously silent as to what was done with Felix's remains but more than likely they were either thrown out in the trash or incinerated. Saddest of all, it is highly unlikely that his former owner was informed of either his illness or his murder.

Even if she had been it is far from clear what she could have done for him at that stage. It therefore is just as if he had never existed.

"Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more," is how that William Shakespeare summed up the futility of life in Act V, Scene V his 1623 play, The Tragedie of Macbeth. "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Photos: Katzenschutzverein Halle.