• Demons of Oblivion
    • Bloodlines
    • Hunter
    • Lineage
    • Exhumed
    • Oblivion
    • Novellas, Shorts, & Collections
  • River Wolfe
    • River
    • Rebellion
    • How the Werewolf Stole Christmas
    • Wolfe
  • Livi Talbot
    • Solomon’s Seal
    • Odin’s Spear
    • Ashford’s Ghost
    • Emperor’s Tomb
    • Shiva’s Bow
    • Yampellec’s Idol
    • Charon’s Gold
  • Elis O’Connor
    • Season of the Bitch
    • Blood Ties
    • Witch Hunt
    • Soul Spell
  • Waverly Jones Mysteries
    • The Killing Beach
    • A Wild Kind of Darkness
    • Alone at Night
  • Standalone
    • Soulless
    • The Silent Places
    • Dweller on the Threshold
    • Watcher of the Woods
  • Boxsets
    • Hauntings: Two Tales of the Paranormal

Skyla Dawn Cameron

My characters kill people so I don't have to.

  • Books
    • Demons of Oblivion
    • River Wolfe
    • Livi Talbot
    • Soulless
    • Elis O’Connor
    • The Silent Places
    • Dweller on the Threshold
    • Watcher of the Woods
    • Waverly Jones
    • Boxsets & Bundles
    • Content Warnings
  • Skyla
    • Newsletter
    • FAQs
    • Skyla’s Home for Wayward Strays
  • Blog
    • Soundtrack Sunday Overview
    • Comment Policy
    • Evil Writer Blog Posts
    • Evil Writer Blog Posts – Old Site
  • Patronage
  • Shop Books
    • eBooks Direct
    • Signed Paperbacks
  • Upcoming
  • Hire Skyla
You are here: Home / blog / Marcus Arrius Julianus

October 18, 2019 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Marcus Arrius Julianus

He had a very long name. Most of my pets do, but that was the first time I gave one a long involved name. As a teen, my favourite book was Donna Gillespie’s The Light Bearer, and Marcus Arrius Julianus was the male lead. That was where I got the name from.

A big name for a very small cat, but he was a polydactyl; anyone with that many toes needed a big name.

As a kitten, Marcus was very tiny and in a house with many cats and dogs, so for the first few weeks he was kept in the bathroom and visited frequently, but that must’ve stunted his social development because he became a very awkward cat.

He lived with my mother for most of his life, and the cats were in the basement away from the dogs. After I moved to her town, he went missing one day–it turned out he had just gone next door to hang out under the neighbour’s porch…but he could not be caught. Because he would just sit there and stare at her, and would dart under and hide when she went to pick him up.

Worried for his safety, I offered to take him–at that point I only had one other cat, my dog, and my rabbit–and he settled in…still awkward. He slept at the end of the bed and I could pet him, but he wasn’t an affectionate lap cat by any stretch.

That did change over the years, however. One of my paranoid fears is not being able to evacuate my pets during a fire, so I was determined to get him used to being picked up in case of an emergency. He tolerated it after a lot of practice.

And the more I watched him, the more I found he wanted attention, he just wasn’t sure how to seek it out. He would sit a few feet away and stare at me throughout the day; if I sat on the floor and reached out, he wouldn’t run but let me pet him. Little by little, the gap got smaller and smaller until he reached a point of head-bopping me when he wanted to be pet.

When I got sick in 2014, I was pretty much in bed all the time for six months. And though all of the cats loved that particular turn of events, it was Marcus who became my constant companion. Though never a lap cat, I found he enjoyed curling up against me while I lay on my side, and it was during that time we really seemed to bond.

I’d be remiss in not mentioning: he was fastidious in grooming himself, resulting in large piles of fur all over the place and often stuck hanging from his mouth like a beard.

He was not a cat for pilling/medicating, but managed to do pretty well for the past year on a kidney diet with my other elderly cat. Besides his kidneys not being great, his liver was starting to struggle, and his heartbeat was all out of whack. He lost his vision about five weeks ago but continued to manage until it became too much for his kidneys and daily sub-q fluids wouldn’t go over well long-term.

Marcus Arrius Julianus, the small cat with the long name, passed peacefully with veterinary assistance yesterday.

The house isn’t much changed on the surface; he had a very quiet, subtle presence. But that silence had a weight and was a constant, and I feel its lack quite acutely.

Share. I'll be your best friend.

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: blog

Holla! Cancel reply

In Memory of Gus

Become a Patron!

Buy My Books

Kobo | Kindle | Smashwords | Nook | iBooks | GooglePlay | Payhip | Signed Paperbacks

The Killing Beach Preorder Promotion

Get new blog posts in your inbox!

Join 130 other subscribers
Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

What I’m Working On

14000 / 75000 words. 19% done!
Waverly 5

7000 / 50000 words. 14% done!
The Only Way Out

10000 / 50000 words. 20% done!
Hell Fire

4500 / 110000 words. 4% done!
Untitled

21000 / 70000 words. 30% done!
Sins of the Mother

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Recent Comments

  • Michael W Lucas on Skiptracing Books, or: Shenanigans with KDP Paperbacks
  • Skyla Dawn Cameron on Where is Yampellec’s Idol on Kindle US?
  • lenabrassard on Where is Yampellec’s Idol on Kindle US?
  • marie1355 on Decisions Were Made
  • Karen on Decisions Were Made
  • D.A Lascelles on Health Update & Sales
  • Skyla on Health Update & Sales
  • Anna Blake on Health Update & Sales
  • Skyla on Last One, I SWEAR
  • Steph Barry (@stephrbarry) on Last One, I SWEAR

MEET SKYLA DAWN

Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror. Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist. So tired all the goddamn time.

My characters kill people so I don’t have to.

read more

  • Amazon
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
Become a Patron!

I'm not inclined to resign to maturity.