Sugar turns twenty
<p>This is a bulletin for Sugar&#8217;s distributed fan club, the hackers and sword geeks and other assorted riff-raff who have guested in our commodious basement.  The rest of you can go about your business.</p>
<p>According to the vet&#8217;s paperwork, our cat Sugar turned 20 yesterday.  (Actually, the vet thinks she may be 19, but that would have required her to be only 6 months old when we got her which we strongly doubt &#8211; she would have had to have been exceptionally large and physically mature for a kitten that age, which seems especially unlikely because her growth didn&#8217;t top out until a couple of years later.)</p>
<p>Even 19 would be an achievement for any cat &#8211; average lifespan for a neutered female is about 15, and five years longer is like a human hitting the century mark.  It&#8217;s especially remarkable since <em>this</em> cat was supposed to be dead of acute nephritis sixteen months ago.  Instead, she&#8217;s so healthy that we&#8217;ve been letting the interval between subcutaneous hydrations slip a little without seeing any recurrence of the symptoms we learned to associate with her kidney troubles (night yowling, disorientation, poor appetite).</p>
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<p>We&#8217;re trying not to let our hopes about Sugar&#8217;s continued lifespan rise too high,  but she&#8217;s making it difficult not to be optimistic.  She does <em>not</em> look or act like a doddering relic.  She is cheerful, active, and bright-eyed &#8211; more so than many cats half her age, if the truth be known. Some days her arthritis makes the basement stairs a little difficult, but not most days &#8211; and that&#8217;s still about the only obvious sign that she&#8217;s geriatric for a cat. Her amiable disposition, exceptional sociability and ability to charm humans have diminished not at all.</p>
<p>This is an occasion for quiet celebration.  Go, I say to you, find a friendly cat and make nice at it.  And hope with us that Sugar keeps beating the odds.</p>
