My wife and I were invited to a cookout at my boss’s house over a month ago. As I was looking through pictures today, I came across one from that day. I meant to post it then but forgot.
My boss has three cats. Bill hangs out on the pool table near where I work. He is very friendly. Sampson will sometimes meet me outside when I get to work and then come in with me. He is also friendly, but I only see him occasionally. Delilah is usually outside in the back yard where I almost never see her. Since we were hanging out in her territory that day, she had no problem coming to me for attention.
Chris has been spending a lot of time on his cat perch. It is good that he is still able to get up there but it is also concerning because I almost never see him holding vigil at his food bowl waiting for someone to put fresh food on top of not-so-fresh-food.
The fact that he is losing his appetite worries me.
These photos were taken on this day in 2010 when we lived in South Carolina. From the top it is Abbey, Alex, and Tigger.
Notice the pool noodles under the railing. I put those there because Chris squeezed under the railing like a cockroach and Jumped to the ground from the third floor. It’s hard to see but I attached a screen across the railing using double sided tape. Above the railing I hung more screening that I could roll up and keep out of view when the cats were not outside.
Chris was outside that day too, but I didn’t capture him in the above photo. I do, however, have several photos of him fighting with Tigger. This was the only one not too blurry to show.
Chris has been puking more than usual lately so I took him to the vet Friday morning. Chris used to like vet visits. It was a chance to explore, but as he got older the vets started doing things that were more unpleasant, so Chris gradually turned into one of those pets that the vet techs dread seeing.
They put us in an exam room shortly after arriving at the vet. I opened Chris’s carrier, but he had no inclination to leave it.
The vet came in with her vet tech, who picked up Chris and placed him on the table. The vet felt around Chris’s body to a chorus of grunts and howls. When the vet tech tried to take Chris’s temperature, he resisted. He dug both sets of claws into her arm and tried to pull himself off the table. When that didn’t work, he started peeing, and didn’t stop for a long time.
She eventually got his temperature and then they took Chris to another room to get blood work done. I could hear the howling in the distance. The tech then cam back with a large towel to wipe up all the pee.
I got the results from the vet today. She said Chris suffers from “moderate kidney disfunction.” She also said he has early signs of liver problems. She recommended a special renal diet for him. She said you can’t fix kidney disease. You can only slow its progression. So, here’s hoping for a slow progression.
My wife got a shipment yesterday, removed the flaps on the box, and put it on the floor for the cats. I noticed Floki sleeping in it last night. This morning Rose couldn’t sleep and, while she was up, put a towel in the box. She woke me up when she came back to bed so I got up and saw Chris napping in the box.
If we paid top dollar for a cat bed it wouldn’t get used as much
This post is from 2016. I should mention that after the novelty wore off, I found it difficult to get our cats to eat anything but chicken. I also no longer mix it with canned food. Now I give them raw food in the morning and canned food in the afternoon.
Bad Cat Chris 