We’ve been a little distracted here at Woodhaven. This morning we were woken up by a phone call, though, that has us breathing easier.
He’s just a cat. We know this. But he’s part of our family. He’s been with us 15 of our nearly 18 years of marriage. He has stories and habits and quirks and a photo album all his own. He’s inspired email addresses and a wine label. And his name is based on a story about my grandma which keeps her memory present in our household. So, yeah, he’s just a cat. But he means the world to us.
Since the three of us live in very close proximity 90% of the time, it’s not hard to notice changes in behavior. So when we observed an increase in the cat’s water consumption, we knew it was something to look into. Actually, I am proud of our cat stewardship. It would have been much easier to ignore the symptoms and pretend everything was fine. So I am pleased we acted like grown-ups and paid the bucks to get the tests run.
As of about 8:15 this morning (yeah, yeah, I know – we were still asleep and we should be embarrassed), Brad officially has kidney disease. Early stages. And with some diet changes and vigilance by his dedicated staff, he can live with this comfortably for several more years to come. PHEW!
Yesterday afternoon, as we watched the cat slowly forgive us for the anxiety-ridden, dignity-robbing vet appointment, Rob and I were working ourselves into a pessimistic frenzy. So early stages of a very common ‘senior kitty’ ailment and a touch of a urinary tract infection sounds really good this morning. Even Brad appears rather pleased. He seems to be digging the doctor’s order to add a morning feeding of canned food. As far as the cat is concerned, life is good. And we agree.
2 comments:
Pumpkin had the same thing - - - and lived five more years or so. Diet is important. There are actually special foods for feline kidney-diseased cats, which we faithfully served. I know you will give him the very best of care!
CAH
That's wonderfully optimistic news! Thank you for sharing that. And yes, we recently learned about the special foods. We are just now concluding a weekend-long taste-off between three possible foods recommended by the vet. Brad has made his choice so I get to go get his prescription (!) for it tomorrow. Spoiled? Our Brad? Noooooo.
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