You've probably noticed I've been writing less about cats. Since Ginger died almost a year ago, I'm having a hard time even thinking about cats. Kinda sucks since most of my clothes have cats on them and the name of my shop is Cats Like Us. The idea of cats doesn't bring me the childlike joy it once did because when I think of cats, I think of Ginger, and then I think she's dead and never coming back. It feels like a downer all the time, and I really hope some day this dark feeling will go away. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her, and I still get emotional over her not being around. On the upside, we have Vicktor.
Vicktor is a senior citizen at 19ish. He's very much still Andrew's cat, but he is much nicer to me since Ginger's passing. He sits on my lap more and swats at me less, not that he swatted that much before. I always said he's bitchy and can be very moody, but over the years he's slowed down a bit. He hangs out with me, purrs a lot, and I call him my boyfriend.
Breakfast with Vicktor on my lap.
Recently, we noticed he was losing weight. Vicktor has always been on the bigger side for a cat, but never obese. He started leaving us "presents" around the house in the form of poo nuggets that were the size of bouncy balls and hard as rocks. Side note: Years ago when we first got Vicktor he was sitting on Andrew's lap (or should I say sh!tting on Andrew's lap?) and when he got up left a poop smear, so on came the nicknames... Stinky Poo Kitty or Poop Kitty or Sir Stinks-A-Lot or Mr. Stinks. It's a theme and the hard poops were a bad sign.
Off to the vet we went. The vets will try to be nice when we bring Vicktor in, and they call him "handsome, but energetic" and "a grumpy old man". Yes, we know he's a pain in the ass, especially if he doesn't know you. They did blood work, and we discovered he has the beginning of kidney disease. We were advised to give him special food. Vicktor will eat anything so, no problem.
He's also now taking a stool softener and powdered fiber...like the kind people take for his hard, small poops.
We've been giving all this to him in addition to his regular Cosequin for about a month now. (We stopped the Cat Lax and pumpkin.) The funny part is he's getting sick of the special kidney food, so we mix in no-salt chicken broth, tuna juice, or regular food. He's back to pooping like a champ, and we're excited to see poo logs instead of nuggets in the litter box. It's the little things, right? So when your cats poops look different, you might need a vet visit.
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