About Boy-cat

Boy-cat will be turning 15 in about a week. He had a 'senior cat check' last week and passed with flying colours. We already knew that his kidneys are not what they were but they have not deteriorated over the past year. The vet now has a cat blood pressure monitor and he looked so cute with the mini-cuff on his arm. He, himself, didn't think that it was particularly cute but his BP is spot on. There is no sign of incipient diabetes so he is generally in good health except that he is getting stiff and arthritic and I suspect that he is in some pain.

Unfortunately, it was medication for arthritis which damaged his kidneys so I am going to need to consult with Doctor Dave about how we can keep him comfortable. This was brought home to me a couple of days ago when I came home from helping an ex-client with her computer to find that the house alarm had gone off. It makes a terrible noise and always sent both cats heading for the hills at double speed. When Boy-cat finally made it home again this time he was not happy and was obviously hurting badly. He is much better today and the sun is out and the day is relatively warm so he is outside soaking up the heat at the moment.

But this has decided me that I will not be taking him with me when I move. He has been an outdoor cat for 15 years and it will be at least another two before I move so I think that he would be distressed by a change of domicile and being confined in a penthouse. He hates using a litter tray and will only do so if there is absolutely no option. If caught short he prefers the plughole of the spa bath but in the new place there will be no steps down into the bath. To make things even more difficult, he is finding it harder to squat to pee and does it standing up. This is not possible in a litter tray unless he turns around and looks out as he pees, otherwise he misses the tray altogether, even though it is one of those enclosed ones.

So, if I still have him in mid-2011 I will have him euthanased as I have come to the conclusion that it will be kinder to him to do this before, rather than after, the move.

This has resolved one of my most pressing problems about the move and I can simply make the most of the time we have left together. I might add that, since he has more or less got over the death of Girl-cat, he has been spoiled rotten ... to the degree that I sometimes find myself standing up to watch TV since he has realised that if I turn on the TV or boil the kettle I am probably going to sit down and he is going to climb up into my lap and go to sleep. He knows that 'no' actually means that he is not to get onto my lap and is very good about that but he is very good at making me feel guilty. *sigh* and I am supposedly an alpha-cat, too ...