Yes, they have Sunday hours - they are awesome that way. He's not peeing enough. He's peeing some, but not enough. Water goes in, not much comes out. It's a sudden, obvious change.
I was out most of the day today. He rose to greet me at the door when I came home, but picked at his fresh can of food and left much of it. He's sleeping again, so soundly that I have to look closely to see if he's breathing. I'll call them when they open at noon and bring him in to find out what's going on here.
If it turns out to be something easily fixable with a shot or a pill, I'm willing to go that route. But if he's suffering a blockage or actual kidney failure and needs to be hospitalized, I'm afraid it's the end of the line for the Ancient Cat. He is very old, very emaciated, and he's had a pleasant last few months here. I obeyed his every wish, threw out a lot of failed flavors of FF, all he had to do was walk to the door to the balcony and bitch, and the door would open for him. I never expected him to last long, and I'm glad he had his basking time. But the cat is Very, Very Old, and I think his time has come.
I second the motion, I think you have thought it through, worked out what is right for old Higgins and he has a lovely last few months.
ReplyDeleteIf I had had any clue as to how difficult (for all of us) Vegemite's last 5-6 months were going to be, I would have made a pre-emptive decision. The cat who for 22 years had never even shown a tooth or claw to either a human or a canine, became impossible to groom. But with her fine, easily feltable undercoat, she had to be groomed, very carefully and very gently, and I copped several very painful bites, luckily on the arm, where I would bleed freely, and never had more than a tiny localised redness, gone in a couple of days. Poor Ernst, unwisely decided to try and help me, and was bitten to the BONE on the knuckle of his right index finger, very little bleeding, and a nasty infection that took two rounds of antibiotics to clear up.
Residual stiffness and soreness for several months. And he is a Toolmaker! Veg in her right mind would never have done such a thing.
Gae, in Callala Bay
Oh, Catherine, I'm so sorry to hear this, but it sounds like maybe it's time. Doesn't make it any easier, but you've loved him a good, long time, he's had a good life.
ReplyDeleteThinking of you both--Katya & Basie