Friday, September 10, 2010

Ollie


Cause this blog hasn't been depressing enough lately</sarcasm>, I thought I'd share an Ollie update.

He's still trying to act as if nothing is wrong.  The day I tried to cover up the area on the carpet he is pooping on with the old pee pads we bought when Em was having trouble with the litter box, he decided to "show us" and jumped up on the fridge and sat in his favorite spot on the cabinets above it.

He's down a little in weight.  I weighed him before dinner, and previous weights were after dinner so there is some variance for the empty tummy, but he was 9lbs 9 oz where previously he was 10lbs to 10lbs 4 oz.  I'm going to try to get some more meals in there for him.  He still likes his holistic treatment.  No idea if it is helping or not, but it can't hurt, and it is two hours every day that we get to spend a little time making him feel special, which is always a good thing. He really loves his herbs.  I think he likes the herbs as much as he likes the baby food we "hide" them in.  He has become more attention seeking both from us and the kitties which is interesting.  It seems to me that he comes and seeks attention when it is herb/treatment time.  He gets herbs in the AM and the PM and treatment when I have two hours.  During treatment he'll often come sit on top of me (but gets pretty grumpy when I pat him too much)  I do my best to praise him and grovel before his Grumpiness (think Highness, but grumpier)  He is the soul in life where nothing goes right and he's not about to not tell you why things are going wrong.  I'm not patting him, I'm patting him too much, there are no other cats around, the other cats are too close and honing in on "his time" etc.  He also has the need to put the other cats in line and tell them how to act around dinner time.  He's always disapproved of their pandering to us in order to procure food.  He growls softly and grumps at them and swats at anyone who gets in his "personal space".  But lately he's had more to complain about.  DH told me this morning he was being particularly grumpy and he turned around and saw Fleurp trying to snuggle up to him as if to say "you can't be grumpy at all this cuteness, you know you like me deep down inside".  I can only imagine it was freakingly adorable.  Fleurp has always taken his grumpiness as we have, as just a product of who he is, and not a personal affront as some of the other kitties do.

When I got into the kitchen this morning, the cats were all dancing around for treats. Jack complains non stop how hungry he is, and how deprived he is, and how can I bare to leave him with out a little something for his tummy.  It's quite annoying because his complaining meow is much like a nail on a chalkboard.  Often to try to cure him of his incessant complaining I pick him up and cuddle him.  Well it took three such cuddles before he realized he wasn't getting what he wanted.  He wandered off to the far side of the room to wait for possible future treats.  Since Ollie was being particularly grumpy, I thought it would be good to give him a little of Bach's Flower Essences.  I have a few different ones to help with hope and diminish darkness.  I gave him a few drops, and took the rest myself (still being sad over Bri) they are very mild tasting, but there is a bit of an after taste, so I thought I'd slip Ollie a few treats.  Not an easy task with my food addicted kitties all clamoring for themselves.  I didn't do too badly getting a few out of the cupboard with out arising too much commotion.  I waited till it died down, and then walked the long way to find Ol.  He was on a chair, which was perfect.  I gave him the first two pieces with out issue, but he realized they were "TEMPTATIONS!!" (aka kitty crack) and started getting aggressive to get them.  He ended up biting my finger, and losing the treat to the floor - which meant it was fair game and was gobbled up by Fleurp. Ollie wasn't going to let this treat go uncontested, so he attempted to jump down from the chair through the rungs.  This normally isn't a problem, but his growth has apparently grown so it caught on the rung.  The chair lifted up a bit before he was able to slip through and was back on all four feet before I even realized what happened... when I did it immediately broke my heart.  Most of the signs of his decline have been very subtle.  Things I can dismiss when it gets too overwhelming for me to think about, like his not sitting on top of the fridge any more, or Muffin's attempt to take Alpha spot away from him (oh she is going to be a horrible Alpha, because Muffin is all about  Muffin).  But such a concrete moment is ... what, undismissable? (yup, even spell check didn't like that word)

From the vet's prognosis of a year, we have about six months left.  Yes, nothing is sure.  But from how things are going, it still seems like a pretty good guess.  Although with this mass getting to be so pronounced on him, that I'm starting to cave on my "no more surgery" thoughts.  I know it would be so hard on him to go through another debulking, and chances are it wouldn't really help him in the long run, but just watching it grow unchecked is so hard.

Sigh.  Sorry, depressing post I know.  Sorry.  But let me end with a cute photo of my boy.

2 comments:

  1. Poor Ollie, it can't be much fun being a king when you aren't feeling up to par. Making his life comfortable as you are doing is best I think. Endless surgeries that don't really alter the outcome of the condition are so traumatic.

    Long may Ollie enjoy his life with you

    Whicky

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  2. Oh, poor Ollie, so hard on you and on him too. (((Hugs))) and kitty kisses to you both.

    I lost my first adoptee, Chumley, quite unexpectedly the night of Jan 24/07 (blood clot that let go, no previous warning). So I've not had to go through CRF or cancer or anything else yet.

    After Chum died, though, I became paranoid about losing Annie (the only other cat at the time), and when she got sick about 6 weeks later I was a basket case. No particular diagnosis there, even after $800 in vet bills, but I determined myself that the food I had switched her to the month prior was the culprit, and so it seemed to be.

    Annie now is about 10 years old (don't know her birth date, just that she was no more than a year when I adopted her) and is hyper-thyroid, was diagnosed last September at 9 years. Young for a cat to be hyper-t, the average age is 13. She's fine on meds at this time (I can't swing the cost of the radiation treatment, the I-131 and there's no where local to do it), but eventually she'll have other problems. Whether thyroid cancer or kidney issues....something.

    My two younger boys probably will have kidney failure before they are in mid-life, as no matter little dry I give them and how much canned (and Derry hates canned food), their kidneys are off-the-chart in concentrating--so the kidneys are working too hard.

    One of the most difficult part of life is learning to accept loss and death. None of us escapes it, so it's all the more reason to find Joy every day, to love our fur companions with all our hearts, every moment.

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