“His kidneys are failing.” There’s nothing like hearing that your adoring pet of 15 years is dying. My precious Wailin, who loves being picked up and held, insists on being in bed with me at night, and starts purring if I so much as look at him, was barely able to walk. He could hardly make it to the litterbox, and once he got there, he’d collapse amid the other cats’ leavings. His body was limp, his eyes sticky and bleary, and his normally air raid siren-like voice had withered into a frail whimper. It’s been a scary weekend for me. When I first heard that his kidneys were failing - the exact health issue that kills many elderly pets - I spent a long time just sitting on the floor, petting him and crying. He had an IV drip in his paw, and I was told that if we could flush out the toxins in his blood and get his kidneys working again, he might have a chance. It wasn’t easy. He had to be watched constantly, to keep him from tearing out his IV needle or kinking the tube. He couldn’t go to the bathroom by himself; he and his IV had to be carried there, and he had to be prevented from just lying down in the cat litter. We tried giving him a towel and a large, absorbent pad to pee on, but he was too much of a good boy to pee outside the litter box. I was up until 6:00 in the morning, watching him. He had to pee every hour or so, and at one point, his efforts to rid himself of the needle succeeded in backing the tube up with blood. We eventually did have to take the IV out, when he managed to make it malfunction in a way we couldn’t fix. Now we’re injecting him instead, but despite the complications, he’s doing a lot better. He’s moving around normally, his eyes are bright, and I’ve never been so happy to hear his loud, obnoxious voice. I’m really grateful that my 16-year-old baby is still around. He’s older than the average for a male housecat, but he’s still a lot younger than the record of 38. I’ve challenged him to live until he’s at least 45. A girl can dream, right?
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 19:25:12 +0000
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