Room service!

A sunny spot.

So what of Poppy? Of late there has been much mention made of Ditto and her various antics while little has been said of Poppy, so this post will I hope rectify that situation.

The main cause of my not blogging on the subject of Poppy recently is that as age creeps up on here she does less and less, the other reason is that any 'Poppy progress' report is bound to include sad stuff that I try my best not to concentrate on.

So, I will dispense with the negatives first. Late on last year you may recall there was a kind of false alarm where her likely longevity was concerned but having got past that a sigh of relief was heard in Gemmak's-ville and things returned to normal. The fact remains though that she is a very old cat, she will be 18 later this year, and her diagnosed kidney failure is progressing ever forward. She really is beginning to look and behave her age at times and whilst it is entirely possible she may survive a while longer, we now live day to day with her and make the most of each one. Should she live a year I would not be surprised, she has rallied before but should we lose her tomorrow I would equally not be surprised.

Age is beginning to take it's toll on her ability to groom herself as much as she would like and consequently PG and I have taken over much of that duty for her....a situation against which she protests most strongly. She may only have one remaining tooth but she sure as hell can still inflict damage with it and given the appropriate motivation she is still able to muster a lightening fast response! She has all her life been opposed to human interference where her ablutions are concerned and age has not dimmed her memory of the purpose of brush and comb. What worries me now is that is seems to genuinely hurt her, despite our best attempts at gentleness but she hates, like all cats do, to be 'untidy' and so we have to persist with a 'little and often' strategy.

Her second problem is weight loss, again it is standard kidney failure stuff but try as we might we can barely prevent her from losing weight, let alone get her to gain any. The main principle of the long ago agreed with the vet, no medical intervention scheme, we are following with her is that what life she has left will be good. It is thust that she dines on all of her favourite foods. In an attempt to regulate her protein intake ( high protein is bad for poorly kidneys) she still has to eat a large proportion of ordinary cat food but she has that sussed. Old as she maybe she retains her stubborn streak and should she not fancy what is put infront of her, she will still turn her nose end up at it and staunchly ignore it. There is little point in our persisting in the battle of wills at this stage and she always gets her way!

The final proof, like I need any, of her declining health is her fluid intake which is steadily rising as anticipated.

On the positive side she has begun again, with the onset of spring, to enjoy a little potter around the field, though she has to be accompanied. Should another cat or a dog pick a fight with her she would be unable now to fight back, but she can still manage the stairs down from our access balcony unaided, if slowly, and sits happily grass chewing and getting some fresh air. She has of late even been very vocal about making her wish to go outside known and summoned us to the door on a number of occasions!

She is still the same old cat, she still struggles to jump on the bed with us, though nowadays not every night, she still adorns PG's lap at every opportunity, she can still purr with the best of them, she still has a passion for catnip, she would still kill for fresh chicken or tuna, she can still cuff Ditto about he ears should she over-step the mark and she still has us wrapped around her little paws! Her latest favourite treat is 'room service' (as illustrated below). Room service 'Poppy style' of course entails feeding her wherever she happens to be, just so long as it is out of the way of the ever greedy Ditto....even if she happens to be on the living room windowsill!

And so there you have it, a Poppy update, some negatives but some positives too, she is still a happy cat and for now that is the best we can hope for, the rest we try our best not to think of and just enjoy her while we can.

*sniffle*


Room service!