BerthaBlog

I called Dr. Kate to come and look at him this afternoon. A couple of weeks ago we tried giving him a steroid injection to see if that would help, but it didn’t appear to make a difference. Today we gave him some subcutaneous fluids, which may help him flush out any toxins building up in his system. She said if there is any improvement because of that, we should see it by tomorrow morning. After the steroids and the subcu fluids, there isn’t a whole lot we can do for him; she’s pretty sure it’s his kidneys shutting down.

He’s made a pretty dramatic decline over the weekend. He’s gotten to where he can barely stand, which is why I called Dr. Kate on such short notice. He lies funny, and doesn’t look comfortable. He also smells kind of bad, which is never a good sign in a cat. When I went to check on him throughout the day, there would be flies buzzing around him. I brought him inside around six, even though he didn’t want to come inside, because in his condition I don’t think he could even get himself somewhere warm for the night, much less run if another animal came after him. He’s spent the last two and a half hours making his way from his chair to the hallway. It’s rather painful to watch him; he stands up and takes a step, and then lies down again. Now and then he gives a plaintive meow.

If the subcu fluids don’t seem to be helping him by tomorrow, I think I’m going to call the vet again and ask her to come and euthanize him. If he were reasonably comfortable I’d do my best to help him hang in there, but as he is now he’s miserable.

I don’t think I mentioned it yet, but towards the end of March we got a postcard from Safe Haven letting us know our little foundling had been adopted. So now she has a permanent home.

Safe Haven is looking for volunteers to come out and play with the cats, to keep them socialized. Perhaps one day I’ll do that, but for now I think I want to focus on pampering Phurball. I suspect the old fellow is not much longer for this world. His appetite has declined, and he spends most of his time sleeping. Often he has to stop and rest on his way up the stairs. It takes him a while to lie down; he lowers his front end down so very slowly, because his shoulders are stiff and painful from the arthritis. His hips bother him as well; there’s no grace at all left in his walk.

Still, the arthritis is really the only thing noticably bothering him. I had his vet come out and check him yesterday, and we agreed that we’d both like to be in such good shape when we’re his age.

During the winter I got him a heating pad designed for pets. It’s activated by his weight when he sits on it, and doesn’t heat to a very high temperature so it doesn’t get uncomfortably warm. The first time I put him on it, he sat for a few minutes to humor me and then went somewhere else to sleep. Ever since then, he’s absolutely loved that thing. He’ll lie on my lap for a while to get love and petting, and then move over to his heating pad when he’s ready to sleep and wants to stretch out. I think the heat might help his arthritis, too.

One night as he was relaxing on his heating pad he saw me coming by, and gave me the look that means he wants me to come pay attention to him. As I started towards him, my husband came into the room with the same look. I changed course and went over to my spouse. As we were embracing, my husband remarked, “That cat is giving me the dirtiest look.”