Feline health update
<p>This one is for the surprisingly large number of my blog readers who have sent inquiries about the health of Sugar, Cathy&#8217;s and my cat, following her near-death experience late last year.  The rest of you can proceed about your business&#8230;</p>
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<p>Sugar bounced back amazingly after the acute kidney infection was treated and seemed like she&#8217;d shed a few years off her age.  But it&#8217;s clear from her blood work that she has compromised kidney function and we were advised to do regular subcutaneous hydration if we wanted to keep her alive.</p>
<p>It took us a while to work out an M.O. for this, and at first our frequency was spotty.  But hydrations about twice a week are now part of the routine, and Sugar tolerates them very well.  She&#8217;s still eager to jump onto Cathy&#8217;s lap in her office chair and become a relaxed cat-puddle there, despite the fact that every few days or so this results in a whacking big hydration needle being poked through the loose skin behind her neck. (Cathy does the insertion with her right hand, holding the cat in place with her left; I work the valve below the hydration bag.)</p>
<p>Sugar will squawk indignantly when the needle goes in, but is then pretty compliant for about 7 or 8 minutes after, which typically allows us to get about a unit and a half of fluid into her.  Eventually she decides she&#8217;s had enough, at which point she starts seriously squirming to get out from under Cathy&#8217;s hand and I know it&#8217;s time to shut the valve.  Cathy lets go, she jumps off Cathy&#8217;s lap in a huff&#8230;and ten minutes later she&#8217;s back to purring at us as per normal.</p>
<p>It would still be hard for anyone who didn&#8217;t know it to guess that Sugar is an ancient with kidney trouble.  She&#8217;s still bright-eyed, active, curious, and very outgoing to our guests.  She seemed to be gradually losing weight for a while, which is a bad sign in an elderly cat, but that&#8217;s reversed in the last couple weeks &#8211; she&#8217;s gained a pound or two, maybe, and has a healthier layer of fat over her ribs and spine than she did in late spring.  Our vet thought she was looking fine at her last examination.</p>
<p>Sugar is now about 6 months shy of being 20 years old. It looks like she&#8217;ll make it to 20 in style.  Every day is a blessing &#8211; she was curled up against my bare right foot in my desk pigeonhole while I wrote most of this, half-asleep and tribbling contentedly to herself.</p>
<p>We know the clock can&#8217;t be turned back. If heart failure or a stroke doesn&#8217;t kill her, the day will come when Sugar has deteriorated so much that the last gift we can give her is a painless death.  But that day is not today, and doesn&#8217;t look like it&#8217;s coming soon. Sugar continues to amaze us with her fortitude and delight us with a heart as big as all outdoors.</p>
