Morning Med time. We actually are pretty good at it. She gets her meds quickly and I come away with my skin intact. But my girl is changing. Her knees are getting worse. She loves going outside but has a hard time getting down the steps, so I've been carrying her down the steps and gently placing her in the grass. Lately she has been known to "get stuck" in her stance and needs a minute to get things moving again. I give her pain medication every Sunday morning, but even those don't seem to give her the relief she needs. I'm allowed to give it to her every 3-4 days if needed and I think we have come to that time.
This morning my girl met me on the landing, but didn't come back down the steps to eat her breakfast. She stood up, looked at me and after a few moments sat back down. I had to carry my old friend down the steps and sit her down in front of her food bowl. What worried me more was that there was quite a bit of food left over from the previous day. This tells me that she is either losing her appetite, and from her size you can tell this is out of character or.... she is having a hard time walking from the couch to her bowl. My obvious next concern is the litter box. I keep a thick layer of puppy pads around her litter box because she can't squat and often misses the box, even though she does get in the box. How is she going to keep going to the box?
Now, don't worry. We aren't anywhere close to even thinking of the idea of "making the decision" for our girl. She's a tough cookie and a little mobility problem isn't going to cause us to call the vet to have her euthanized. What we are doing is thinking about what changes we need to make to keep our eldest daughter comfortable.
We're going to continue to give her meds, but increase the frequency of her pain medication. We're going to alter or replace the litter box with a low wall or non existent front wall so she can easily walk into it. We have not figured out what to do about the pet door she walks through to get to the box, we may need to just take the door out and cut away the bottom portion of the door. We are considering altering Pull-Ups just in case the box is just too far away. Imagine my girl in Princess Pull Ups! She has steps to get up onto the couch, but we also have a floor pillow. We could, if need be, keep her food and water close to her "spot" so she doesn't have to walk far or even at all.
Yes, she's a cat. I know. But I can't put into words how much she means to me. I can't imagine my life without her. When I carry her in from her "outside time" and she licks my face, it melts my heart. We don't euthanize our relatives when they become older so I won't euthanize my girl. Unless she is so uncomfortable and surrounded with pain that there is no other choice, she will be here. Thanks for letting me get all this out and sort it all in my brain.
Give your furry babies a hug today.... you are their whole world. Until Next Time Friends.
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