pumpkin-belly

[pumpkin-belly]

holding on so tighte

he cries to me tonight all in my face asking me to do something.

he goes in for I131 radiation treatment tomorrow and has to stay 4-7 days, and then I'll mostly have to stay 6 feet from him for another 12. He'll be scared and won't understand.

I hope this works. I know he only has a few years left at best. I want the time he has left to be comfortable. I hope I'm not just dragging things out because it's so hard to let go.

[pumpkin-belly]

he may be ailing, but he still has the most amazing eyes

#cats of tumblr #orange cat

[pumpkin-belly]

Grrrr. Last two readings from the litter robot are 8.3 pounds. It's not as accurate as the vet's scale, but I hate the overall trend:

I bought and offered him some fancy feast last night as well as his regular kidney-safe food with the Fortiflora and salmon oil. Please eat!

Ok. Pumpkin update when I should be filling out his medical forms or fighting fruitlessly with the pharmacy, my doctor's office, and insurance to get a replacement for the discontinued immunosuppressant I need to fight the damage covid did to my immune system, turning it against me even worse than the arthritis i had before.

To review, my Elder Statescat has:

Nineteen years

Feline herpes triggered by stress, causing cold sores/irritation inside nasal passages

Arthritis in his back legs

Hyperthyroidism since 2022, which dropped him from 12 to 10lb.

Chronic Kidney Disease confirmed Dec 2023

Congenital enlarged heart and intermittent heart murmur.

Which wasn't a problem until last checkup, when it showed ventricle thickening & constriction.

Probably the cause of a syncope (fainting) incident while I was in Texas. i've never seen that happen before.

Plus he's outlived his original owner. Her family, including vet tech granddaughter, are my neighbors.

Since December, kidney and heart disease have progressed, herpes flareups keep giving him cold-like symptoms, he's lost appetite (not normal with hyperthyroidism), and his thyroid med has stopped working. His weight has dropped to 8.4 and falling. 😢

When he first came to me, he was an overstuffed plush toy of 17 lbs.

But he's still opinionated and purring and talkative, and he just climbed up to bug me bc  I haven't been paying attention to him while writing this.

So, after ultrasounds to make sure there weren't other problems causing his loss of appetite, I've signed him up for Iodine-131 treatment on Sunday.

This is a Hail Mary: hyperthyroidism aggravates kidney disease and heart problems, and can cause nausea/ibs too. if we can get some weight back on him, maybe he'll have more reserves to fight the herpes flareup too.

Otherwise, I think we'll be saying goodbye pretty soon.

Even if it works, of course, he's old. The doctor's prognosis was 2 to 4 more years, with kidney disease finishing him off like most cats (including my last). But hopefully his quality of life will be better.

Wish the old man luck.

April 1, 2020 - Floofer pre-hyperthyroid

[pumpkin-belly]

Ok. Pumpkin update when I should be filling out his medical forms or fighting fruitlessly with the pharmacy, my doctor's office, and insurance to get a replacement for the discontinued immunosuppressant I need to fight the damage covid did to my immune system, turning it against me even worse than the arthritis i had before.

To review, my Elder Statescat has:

Nineteen years

Feline herpes triggered by stress, causing cold sores/irritation inside nasal passages

Arthritis in his back legs

Hyperthyroidism since 2022, which dropped him from 12 to 10lb.

Chronic Kidney Disease confirmed Dec 2023

Congenital enlarged heart and intermittent heart murmur.

Which wasn't a problem until last checkup, when it showed ventricle thickening & constriction.

Probably the cause of a syncope (fainting) incident while I was in Texas. i've never seen that happen before.

Plus he's outlived his original owner. Her family, including vet tech granddaughter, are my neighbors.

Since December, kidney and heart disease have progressed, herpes flareups keep giving him cold-like symptoms, he's lost appetite (not normal with hyperthyroidism), and his thyroid med has stopped working. His weight has dropped to 8.4 and falling. 😢

When he first came to me, he was an overstuffed plush toy of 17 lbs.

But he's still opinionated and purring and talkative, and he just climbed up to bug me bc  I haven't been paying attention to him while writing this.

So, after ultrasounds to make sure there weren't other problems causing his loss of appetite, I've signed him up for Iodine-131 treatment on Sunday.

This is a Hail Mary: hyperthyroidism aggravates kidney disease and heart problems, and can cause nausea/ibs too. if we can get some weight back on him, maybe he'll have more reserves to fight the herpes flareup too.

Otherwise, I think we'll be saying goodbye pretty soon.

Even if it works, of course, he's old. The doctor's prognosis was 2 to 4 more years, with kidney disease finishing him off like most cats (including my last). But hopefully his quality of life will be better.

Wish the old man luck.

April 1, 2020 - Floofer pre-hyperthyroid

#health update

[pumpkin-belly]

reblogging to remember his rounder, floofier days. he still making that funny meow.

Tip for Cats of Tumblr:

Pumpkin's patented head tilt begging technique

[pumpkin-belly]

old man in the sun 🥲

#cats of tumblr #catblr #he is ailing #CKD #heart starting to go #minor respiratory issues #arthritis #and the hyperthyroidism is no longer controlled by meds — i'm looking into the radioactive option but it may be time for palliative care #he lost another half pound while I was in Texas #so I'm just trying to give him sun and birdwatching time #and see when spending money is liable to improve his quality of life #and when it's time to start preparing to say goodbye #such a hard call #although at least since I got him when he was 11 #I knew he might not have much time with me and in fact he's had more time than I expected

[pumpkin-belly]

Legless Legolas of the Eyestalks here has the same hypertrophic myocardia as my cat

Let's irresponsibly breed a dog together!

Share as much as possible that dog gotta be atrocious by the end of the week

[pumpkin-belly]

#every now and then there is a pumpkin clone #except they don't have his green eyes

[pumpkin-belly]

Pumpkin may have multiple health problems, but his brain is sharp.

He figured out the litter robot immediately (and i had to shorten the delay, because after using it he sits down and waits to watch it like he does the computer printer).

He keeps hurting his bad leg jumping down, so I found these weird squishy steps tall enough for the too-tall bed and moved his old not-as-tall steps to the sink, where he's constantly asking for water (never mind he has a water bowl and a fountain.)

(ignore the mess as I tore into my bag o' prescriptions for the migraine meds)

We're both in great shape.

[pumpkin-belly]

@pumpkin-belly in June 2021 just before senior kitty issues began to take the stuffing out of my living plush toy

It's an early start to Curled Feetsies Friday.

Let's see your cute pics from the week!

[pumpkin-belly]

So the times are Interesting and my hair is whiter.

Pumpkin, after doing pretty well apart from a little arthritis and feline herpes which causes sinus irritation/sneezies during flareups, started showing his age a couple years ago.

But since January, it's been a very unhappy game of veterinary whack-a-mole as his 19? years start to tell.

So we've got:

Hyperthyroidism mostly controlled, but he'd lost two pounds before my neighbor found her old boss, now a mobile vet, teamed up and added Pumpkin to their rounds as a Very Important Patient.

Runaway herpes flareup, if that's what it was, turned into full-blown respiratory infection requiring nasal drops. mostly resolved, except...

Lost his sense of smell, appetite. He's barely been eating, I've been frantic, trying to find different toppings and ways to entice him. But

Like so many older cats, kidney disease showed up in December coming in hard and fast. So I had to limit his diet. Not that he could taste his favorite treats anymore.

Slow but inexorable weight loss finally… I hope? halted at 9 pounds, down from 12. (When I adopted him, he was a chonker at 17 pounds.)

One of his back legs keeps collapsing.  Worsening arthritis plus muscle loss plus stubborn insistence on jumping down even though he uses chairs or pet steps to go up.  I think he initially sprained his knee and keeps reinjuring it.

Basically my Sam Gamgee shaped cat has very quickly wizened to Gollum under the fur, except he's not as strong and only wants to bite my nose on occasion.

TL;DR: I adopted an 11 year old cat, knowing what that meant. We've had 8 good years.  Now comes the hard part. 

(Affecting my ability to cope with the "hard part" are the emotional wear and tear of current events and exhaustion from my own arthritis/fibromyalgia/post-covid health issues: my sleep schedule's gone haywire and I keep having migraines.)

 On the bright side, while there's purr, there's hope.

[pumpkin-belly]

Pondering. Much pondering.

#cats of tumblr #orange cat

[pumpkin-belly]

back home. Pumpkin would like to inform us

this "atmospheric river" business is bullshit

#not knocking the hype #boulders and mudslides are nothing to sneeze at #he's just not a fan #cats of tumblr #catblr

[pumpkin-belly]

catsittre nightly updates

[pumpkin-belly]

 Never thought I'd shell out money for any kind of smart appliance, let alone a litterbox. But the weight monitor is useful now that I'm tracking Pumpkin's health issues, and self cleaning will help both of us since we both have arthritis.

he is so smart. He started using it within two days, once I transferred one of his doots into it and scooped litter over it while he was watching. Most cats take weeks to adapt, and some only if you get rid of their old box.

#litter robot #our digital overlords are poop

[pumpkin-belly]

Reminder: Floof

#he's acting so much happier #and the sniffles are gone #now if i can just work on his appetite #he's got CKD now so it's tricky findibg treats or toppings to entice eating #that aren't rough on kidneys

[pumpkin-belly]

the mighty hunter

oops

(but he's feeling better!)

#orange cat