{ Benjamin Franklin Bliss Dlugasch }
1981 —– 2000
Benjamin “Bennie” Dlugasch passed away at the age of 19 on June 6
around 11:00 PM after a two-and-a-half-week battle with cancer of the liver,
pancreas and spleen.
On May 21st he had a sudden weight gain of nearly two pounds overnight,
which was caused by fluid leakage from the infected organs.
Until that day he had seemed in perfect health despite having
been diagnosed with a kidney ailment in April of 1998.
Benjamin (“fortunate son”) was known by many names:
he was usually called Bennie but also
suffered these sobriquets:
Beniamo
Benihaha
Benihana
Bennierat
Bennikins
Creepo
Fusaichi Benniecat (his thoroughbred name)
Little Big Mouth (his honorary Indian name)
Mr. Silk
Old Yeller
Petunia
Bennie and his brother Leo (“Leonardo da Vinci”)
were adopted in 1983 from the Bide-a-Wee service in Manhattan.
At that time they were already adults (their original names were Fred and Frankie),
estimated at 2 and 1½ (we never figured out which was which but always
felt that Leo was the oldest from behavior).
They had been adopted before but were reportedly returned because
“they didn’t match the décor”! Obviously they were meant for us alone.
Leo passed away in March 1994 of cardiomyopathy after having
conquered diabetes something we never knew was
even possible.
Benjamin always took the high road: he enjoyed getting from one
end of the room to the other without setting foot on the floor.
He also liked to try to get to the top of the wall unit in the
living room and succeeded a few times.
When he wanted to run the path from the top of the love seat to
the top of the upright piano two rooms away took about four seconds.
Bennie had an impressive voice with a range of an octave and a half.
He would make rhythmic statements in the form of a processional
and recessional to and from the water dish after dinner
or after going to the bathroom.
These statements were oratorical and not directed toward either of us.
If interrupted he would change his voice quality and phrase his
next utterance as a question.
These recitals took place anytime of the day or night;
4:00 AM was a preferred hour.
Bennie enjoyed doing the crossword puzzle with Albert
and sitting on his outstretched legs.
The best scenario was when we all sat on the couch and he could
alternate back and forth between us innumerable times.
He was utterly fair with his affection to both of us.
Certain things he would do with only one of us.
He would play with his toys now and then but only with Marilyn.
He enjoyed helping Albert input data at the computer and helped
Marilyn by sitting in her chair with her whenever she was working or reading
(he could also position himself in front of the light source when he thought
too much work was getting done).
He also often slept on her pillow when the mood struck him.
Bennie actually enjoyed having Albert chew on his ears provided they
were dried off afterwards. He unfortunately did not enjoy music,
and had to leave the room whenever someone decided to play or sing.
On the other hand he could not stand the sight of a closed door
and would meow at it until it was opened again.
Although Bennie enjoyed catnip his real craving was for sniffing
pencil shavings from the pencil sharpener,
preferably red pencils.
We almost lost Bennie many years ago when the pointing crews
on the outside of our apartment building left the window screen
in the study open without our knowledge.
Bennie got on the window ledge of our fifth-floor apartment but got
back in safely. His brother Leo and he got into a fight once
and Bennie’s ear was damaged and needed to be sewn back together.
He detested wearing the funnel;
otherwise he never had a bad or sick day until his fatal illness.
A trip to the veterinarian was always an event in both Bennie’s
and Leo’s existence — a hated event.
Neither liked traveling especially in a car to the vet and after Leo
passed Bennie relished travel even less.
One salutary effect of the negative reaction to travel was that Bennie
viewed it as a literal purgatory.
Enough said.
Bennie had one bad habit: he urinated on most of our furniture and rugs
at one time or another; it was a mystery why he did it but he had pretty
much stopped doing it in the last few years after we had lost Leo.
He also liked to lick the paint on the walls by the windows.
Another mystery that will remain unsolved.
And he lost hair in a couple of patches; he was growing
it back when he became sick.
Was the hair growth a bad sign?
No one had that answer.
Bennie was the sweetest and gentlest of cats: not once in 17½ years
did he ever strike out at us with his paws or bite us.
He was always ready with a long loud purr and
was always ready for a scritch with a hand or a brush.
Of course when it was necessary to give him medicine or a pill,
the above did not apply.
More than once his refusal to comply with the vet’s directions
for medication resulted in a scraped finger from
a saber-sharp tooth.
Bennie was diagnosed with kidney disease in April 1998.
He wasn’t given a very good prognosis but we gave him subcutaneous fluids
for over two years until the cancer was diagnosed.
So he is a kidney disease survivor after all.
He seemed perfectly fine — playing with toys,
using Marilyn’s stomach as a springboard to get to the top of the couch
helping Albert to put together the new computer using Marilyn’s glasses as
a rubbing place for his chin and doing his best to prevent her from reading
by resting his chin over her eyes — until May 21st when he suddenly
gained weight overnight.
The cancer had caused fluid to be retained in the abdomen.
He had an ultrasound scan which showed that he had advanced
cancer in the liver pancreas and spleen.
Why had we not known till then?
Just one more mystery in Benjamin’s long life.
We are forever grateful to Bennie’s friends both those who took
such good care of him in our absence and those who knew
him more casually or by reputation only.
We know he’ll be missed by all of you.
He was the best of all possible cats.
Marilyn and Albert
| Bennie |