(no subject)

[plonq]

The cat gave us a bit of a scare this week. She seemed a little listless on Monday night, but on Tuesday it was obvious that she was not well. She pooped on the living room floor, peed a couple of other places, and showed no interest in food. She also found herself a dark corner to hide in and generally avoided contact with us. She came hobbling out to see us Tuesday night, and when I picked her up she peed on me. Wednesday morning she was no better.

Normally I wouldn't worry too much about behaviour like that as long as it cleared up in a day or two - cats are known to eat things they shouldn't, or catch viruses. When a cat gets to her age (17+) you begin to worry about things like liver and kidney failure though. She acted a bit perkier on Wednesday evening, and was almost back to normal on Thursday, but I booked an appointment for Friday to get her poked and prodded and have some blood work done.

They put her through a battery of various indignations (they want to put that thermometer WHERE?!) and took some blood to run through the usual tests. When the results came back the vet announced that she had some mild kidney dysfunction, but nothing that couldn't be controlled through putting her on a stricter low-protein diet. Other than that she is in remarkable health for a cat of her advanced age. He figures she should be good for a few more years.

Comments

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

Do you brush her fur or does she keep it in that condition herself? One of our cats is less than 17 years old and she devotes entirely too little time to keeping it groomed these days.

When kitties do odd things...

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

...like peeing on the bed, couch or you, then they're trying to say "HELP ME!! I'M HURT/UPSET/AFRAID!!"

Be sure to keep lots and lots of fresh water available for her, though.

[ramalion.livejournal.com]

Completely unrelated...but I gotta rib you a bit on this...

You dang Candian train people gotta stop dumping coal on our interstates. Our Prez might think it's some terrorist attack or something. :)

[plonq.livejournal.com]

She is taking much better care of her fur since we put her on that arthritis medicine awhile back. She still makes alarming pops and snaps when she moves around, but she's got much better mobility.

Re: When kitties do odd things...

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I think it was a mix of that, and a bit of "Ow. My bladder and bowels are irritated and you just squeeze me in the wrong place, buddy."

Getting her to drink enough water has never been a problem, but at the advice of the vet we are now mixing her food with water and creating a slurry of goodness for them. They turned up their noses at it when we first put it out for them last night, but by this morning they had licked up all evidence that the food had ever existed.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

That would be the other guys. They are insufferably cheap bastards when it comes to track and equipment maintenance, so I'm not surprised to hear they are dumping trainloads of coal on your interstates.

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

Also, that's one gorgeous cat.