This is the million dollar cat. He's made of solid gold, can't you see it? If his life were baseball he'd be Pedro Martinez.
At age 4, the very earliest that a cat usually shows symptoms of a chronic UTI problem, he did.
About a year and a half ago he started licking all the hair off his legs and stomach. When he's gotten rid of all the hair he could reach he started chewing his own skin. He is now covered in open sores. Charming, huh?
Today, on a visit from hell to the vet's office, which also turned out to be the worst day the vet had ever had since she'd gotten her license, he was diagnosed with a heart murmur. Which is, frankly, just as scary as it sounds. He goes for a cardiac ultrasound on Monday ($300 not counting what we spent today, and yet worth every penny).
He's on steroids to help him stop itching and antibiotics to stop/prevent any possible infection in the aforementioned open sores. After Monday he'll probably be on cardiac meds for the rest of his life. They will strive to keep him asymptomatic but they won't reverse anything and they won't prolong his life. That being said the vet did have a cat who was diagnosed at 7 years old and lived to be 20. His last meal? Ethiopian food. My vet enjoys a good chat no matter how behind she is on her appointments. She's kind of awesome.
Elvis will be 7 in September (as will Anna, Eva's Max & Pinto and Mom's Maria). That is a whole lot older than I think of them being. They're still just kittens to me. But it is technically senior citizenship for cats so the whole rapid onset heart murmur thing shouldn't be so sad, right? Yeah, fuck that.
The vet was talking today about an old saying that our pets are with us for as long as we need them. Yesterday I would have told you that I loved him and I even like him a bunch but I surely didn't need him.
Uh, who the fuck do I think I'm kidding? Who else will keep me humble like that? Totally need him and he better not die of this thing because if he does I will kick his ass.
2007? The a veritable sucktasm of sucktastic things that suck. So far.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Sucktasm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I'm sending out vibes that everything will be A-OK with the kitty. My dog had a heart murmur all his life and didn't take any meds for it (I think both those statements are true, but I could be wrong, I was a kid). Anyway, he lived to be 16 1/2!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely not the year of the cat, is it? I'm so sorry about your baby. I have to admit, I was in the same boat. Fergie was a fuzzy warm thing to have around, but I'm sorry to say, she kind of became part of the furniture when the kids arrived. Sorry, Fergie.
ReplyDeleteBut when she went in the hospital, I made every deal I could think of with the Universe (up to and including several versions of a homemade diet on a silver tray complete with cloth napkin and bud in vase). Now, I'm not saying I regret that bargain (hey, it's a lot easier when all I end up having to do is scoop it out of a bag, and mash up some canned stuff with water), but at 6:30am, that stuff smells kind of skanky.
I'll be sending some good and healthy vibes your way.
Add my vibes to the mix, please.
ReplyDelete