Sometimes the fairy tale has a happy ending. That’s obviously what we looked forward to when we took in The-Skinny-Black-Cat-Now-Known-As-Cleo that showed up on our back deck last month.

But sometimes life doesn’t cooperate, and instead reality slaps you in the face.

That’s where we are right now, treading water and hoping for the best.

On the positive side. This was the week Ms. Cleo decided she did not want to be stuck in a room by herself 24/7, and began asserting herself whenever we would open the door to “her” room, and blast out past us into the hallway and, eventually, out into the rest of the house.

Surprisingly, the other three cats have been remarkably accepting. They stare, and track her with their eyes. Bessie actually follows to check on Cleo’s activities. Cleo has gone nose-to-nose with each of them without any issue, except for a tiny hiss from Ms. Kali. Apparently Cleo doesn’t send out any vibes of challenging the existing order.

Just yesterday (Thursday), she hopped up onto our bed for the first time. And late in the day, she found and occupied a spot of afternoon sun on the bed while Kinikini and Kali were a few feet away on the bedroom cat tree. I managed to catch photos of both occasions.

All seems to be going so very well.

But that’s only half of the story.

The other half is that Cleo is a sick kitty.

I’ve mentioned the hookworms, which she’s been treated for. It was a bad infestation, according to the lab report.

Unfortunately, she did not cooperate with the several days of a deworming med I was supposed to give her. So it was back to the vet, this time for a different hookworm medication that is given in two doses, a couple of weeks apart.

But that wasn’t the end of the alarming blood test result. The more serious issue is a kidney problem. Her kidney values were above normal, which we hoped was due primarily to dehydration from her time outside, and the internal parasites. But when she still didn’t feel at least a little better after five days, we were back at the vet. A second blood test showed her kidney numbers had gotten worse. So for the past week, we’ve been giving her a dose of subcutaneous fluid daily, which is supposed to give her kidneys a break and, hopefully, turn things around.

And the result? Mixed. On the one hand, she’s asserting herself about being out of isolation, and so has been more active than previously. On the other hand, she’s hardly eating anything, which can’t be good. And she’s still fussing around her water bowl, which I refill all the time just to be sure she has access to fresh water.

We return to the vet on Sunday, likely for another blood test to see whether the fluids have benefited her.

So we’re sort of in limbo, unsure of what she is dealing with, or with what comes next.