The week in cats. It’s not a long story.
Duke’s 18th birthday dame and went. The cats celebrated with many naps as they followed the sun through each day.
Annie had a vet visit. The good news is that she is still alive almost four months after we brought her back from the emergency vet hospital. At that time, I was sure she wouldn’t last more than a day or two. The not-so-good news is that her kidneys continue to perform poorly, and the daily infusions of subcutaneous fluids are probably what is keeping her going. We don’t have lab test numbers back yet, but there’s no reason to expect good news. I think the question is how fast those kidneys are failing.
The second bit of not-so-good news is that her blood pressure was high enough to cause special concern for Dr. Sakamoto. So now Annie is on a new blood pressure medication relatively recently approved for cats. Three weeks of this liquid drug. Annie hates getting doses of any medicine, but at least this one doesn’t seem to taste bad. She still fights it, but once I’ve gotten it in her mouth, she doesn’t throw a fit like she does with those that taste vile. And Dr. Sakamoto also sent us home with some dried marlin for Annie, which all the cats love! We immediately went and bought more. It makes a very popular reward, and it’s rewarding for us to see Annie and the boys all eagerly awaiting each morsel.
Otherwise, it’s a lot like a feline nursing home around here. A bit of poop on the floor over here, someone vomited over there, keep the Bounty and Nature’s Miracle close at hand, why is it so hard to get cats to eat something that’s good for them? It goes on and on.
Anyway, here are a few images from the week. Enjoy.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Here’s a somewhat upbeat update on Annie. We heard back from Dr. Sakamoto today about the lab tests. Much to our surprise, her blood test shows she is remarkably stable. Her key test values were still high, but most were lower than when we was in emergency care, and about the same as her followup with Dr Sakamoto later in January. She not going to be cured, but she’s also not yet on an increasing downward spiral. That’s about as good as we can expect for now.
It’s difficult to know the precise degree to which animals suffer. I had a senior diabetic cat and tried very hard to keep him alive. In retrospect, I probably should not have tried so hard. He went through an awful lot–too much, staggering included–before it became obvious that “Enough is enough.”
It’s a very tough calculus at this point. When is “enough” enough? When does our desire to delay our pets departures from this life become more for us instead of for them? We are very much aware of the issues as we make our way along this path.