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stephbgCally has now graduated from 18 1/2 to pushing 19. She is indeed an old cat.
Unfortunately she's not doing too well these days. She's not far off how she was when we started with the cartrophen shots in March 2011. (I've been incorrectly spelling it as cartrophan here and there.) She twitches and flinches, she overgrooms her hindquarters wher she has the arthritis, she's losing weight, she's sooky, and purrs the too-loud-to-be-good-news purr. Sometimes her breathing sounds more like groans, and it's often laboured in both sleep and wakefulness. She's gone backwards in terms of her confidence at taking even small jumps, and it takes her a long time to settle comfortably. Her third eyelid is ever so slightly visible, and she's reverted to sleeping with her eyes open. It's damn freaky, especially when she dreams.
Far from losing her appetite she eats almost frantically, but at least part of that must be side effects from the extra metacam I've been giving her lately as pain relief. It's a balancing act because too much will make her nauseous.
Nine months ago I was facing the prospect of losing her, but the cartophen and metacam significantly improved her quality of life. Now those gains are slipping away, and I'm not sure how much longer she'll be with me. For the time being the positives outweight the negatives in her quality of life, but the balance is surely shifting.
On the bright side she has almost constant human company, which I know she enjoys.
Poor old thing.
Unfortunately she's not doing too well these days. She's not far off how she was when we started with the cartrophen shots in March 2011. (I've been incorrectly spelling it as cartrophan here and there.) She twitches and flinches, she overgrooms her hindquarters wher she has the arthritis, she's losing weight, she's sooky, and purrs the too-loud-to-be-good-news purr. Sometimes her breathing sounds more like groans, and it's often laboured in both sleep and wakefulness. She's gone backwards in terms of her confidence at taking even small jumps, and it takes her a long time to settle comfortably. Her third eyelid is ever so slightly visible, and she's reverted to sleeping with her eyes open. It's damn freaky, especially when she dreams.
Far from losing her appetite she eats almost frantically, but at least part of that must be side effects from the extra metacam I've been giving her lately as pain relief. It's a balancing act because too much will make her nauseous.
Nine months ago I was facing the prospect of losing her, but the cartophen and metacam significantly improved her quality of life. Now those gains are slipping away, and I'm not sure how much longer she'll be with me. For the time being the positives outweight the negatives in her quality of life, but the balance is surely shifting.
On the bright side she has almost constant human company, which I know she enjoys.
Poor old thing.
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Date: 2011-12-09 02:04 pm (UTC)On the other end of the scale, Kyoko (who is four) has been circling my room for the last 15 minutes, meowing loudly at invisible bugs. ...In her case, I'm not sure it will be possible to become any more senile than she already is :P She is my most foolish, but most adorable cat.