The menagerie is starting to drive me mad… I think we’re at a gazillion cats, 2 dogs, 4 rats, a cockatiel and a fighting fish now. Pretty sure it’s going to be one cat, maybe two, and one rat down though, soon.

Nearly four years ago, I decided that we needed to put our oldest cat down. He’s going to be ten this year, and has made it through nine of those years with fairly bad, almost crippling arthritis in his hind legs and back. He was bitten by a something when he was just little, and none of us noticed the injuries until they were very badly infected. He was at the vet clinic for several days while they did surgery on the points of his heels and the flexor tendons to drain the infection.

Six months later, we were back with the other leg and a UTI. While he was there, after we decided not to put him down, he was neutered.

The vet suggested I put him to sleep then, because of the arthritis already forming in one leg and bound to form in the other. But I knew, and he agreed, with care and staying inside Malley could have an okay life. Unfortunately, Malley has never been one to stay inside. He’d rather be outside when the weather is good, and even some days when it’s not.

This year we swore we were going to put him down. Not only is he limping badly and often not putting weight on his right hind at all, but he’s become… weird. He’s lost some weight, but not much and he’s still eating and drinking. It’s just he’ll follow us around like he can’t lose sight of us. He can’t jump up on high furniture any more, and when he does try, he usually claws his way all the way up. The worst part of seeing him age early is knowing he’s confused.

Kitty Alzheimer’s.

At the water dish – why am I here?

In the litter box – what is this thing? I should be doing something…

At the door – I don’t want out, what the hell are you opening the door for?

Walking away from the door – HEY I was asking to go out, what the hell?

Open the door and he goes outside – why am I here?

It really broke my heart when he puffed up and tried to attack our coy/elkhound. He’s known her all her life, he sees her all the time, she’s terrified of him for other reasons (he used to be really vicious, a few years ago lol), but you could see the confusion and fear in his eyes. It was like he didn’t recognize her.

He’s been hobbling around the house, meowing, looking for something or someone for a couple of weeks. I watched him go from room to room, I tried talking to him… but he was having none of it.

Finally he crawled up on the love seat and went to sleep. Obviously, his time is coming… the little ‘abandoned’ baby has had quite a life with us, being surrounded by furry, feathered and fleshy family alike.

As I was working on parts of this post, my Milo became very ill, for the fourth or fifth time. Despite a really stress free life, a special diet and an amazing vet, he is very susceptible to feline UTI, and when the vet called this evening (it’s the 17th but this won’t post until the 21st) she let me know that the blockage was not due to stones or crystals, but by scar tissue and inflammation/infection. They couldn’t proceed with the regular treatment, though they had managed to drain his bladder using a needle. There could be damage to his kidneys, and it’s a possibility that his bladder won’t shrink back down all the way.

The option for treatment, as long as his kidneys still function, is to perform a urethrostomy. They will remove his boy-bits and re-route the waterworks. Only if there is no major damage to his kidneys. By the time this posts, he may already be across the bridge… or he’ll be coming home, for all intents and purposes remaining to an altered cat, a girl.

The rat, Dax, is 30 months old. She has outlived our other long-lived rat by two months. She has lost weight, become freakishly grabby and grouchy, and there are a few non-mammary tumors growing on her underside. They’re very small, and very slow-growing, but definitely not mammary. *shrug* If she hasn’t passed on her own by the end of February, I think we’ll take her in to the vet’s. She’s never been overly friendly, but she has been my baby, and I’m going to miss her.

The holes these little things leave in our lives just stuns me. Carrie lost her buck (male) rat the day before Yule. I still call to him once in a while, but it’s never his big head that peeks out of the hammock, it’s always Nico. Dexter was the friendliest and cuddliest of the boys, and wow… he’s missed.

*sigh* With this many in the menagerie, people wonder how we can get so close to them, individually. It’s easy! Every one has a different personality. Every one is special.

And we miss every one, too, when they’re gone.

Do you have pets? Have you had to make hard decisions, or has nature taken its own course?

’til next week…
<3 JL