Butchie had an unpleasant trip to the vet on Friday and has spent the last couple of days recuperating. The experience put me a bit on edge as vet stuff in general still reminds me of Bongo’s last days. I’ll be able to relax once Butchie seems to be back to her old self. She has strange shaved and bruised patches all over and, for a while, the subcutaneous hydration caused one of her front paws to swell to twice its normal size. It looked like she was wearing a catcher’s mitt — comical in retrospect. After two days of rest she is still walking a little strangely, but seems to be making steady progress. She underwent a battery of procedures and tests — teeth cleaning, blood tests, x-rays, etc. — that required the use of general and local anesthesia in addition to pain medication afterward. All were administered in the name of setting a baseline for her entry into her senior years. The x-ray revealed a bit of arthritis in her spine near her tail, so we now know to keep an eye out for any behavior that might suggest she is in pain. We have arthritis medicine that we are holding in reserve until it seems necessary — her other health concern is liver-related, so we don’t want to overdo the administration of any medicine that might tax her liver. The vet diagnosed her simply as “old cat”, so that was a relief after her sister’s bizarre problems. I can’t help feeling a little over-protective of Butch, now.

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Little over a week ago, Bongo first showed signs of lethargy. She spent the whole day in bed and Caton and I were extremely concerned. In the following days, however, she seemed to rally and show steady signs of improvement. Since she seemed to be recovering, and since she was an extremely skittish kitty, we felt that the stress of a vet visit would outweigh its benefits. We assumed she had a kitty cold. (more…)