Thinking of our sick friends

Today we are thinking about Suzanne and her mom from Under the bed - http://tonisgotwebbedfeet.blogspot.com/



Suzanne is a pussy cat who is 16 years old and has renal failure. She has had a tough weekend. Me and my mum are thinking about you Suzanne - we are sending you lots of good wishes. We know your mom will do what is right for you.

This time last year mum was having a rough time with Puss. Puss was a great, gentle loving cat. She would run up to anyone (even toddlers) and let them pat her and she never used her paws or claws. Kids from all around would come to visit her.



Puss had 8 months with renal failure. It's pretty tough keeping an eye on those pussy cats and getting them to eat enough. Mum knew that Puss was too tired when she stopped eating and didn't want to drink. She knows that many of you have cats with renal failure and one of the things that worked for her and puss was to get a 20 ml syringe and a drawing up cannula (like a straw that connects to the syringe). Mum was able to use this to syringe the water into the side of Pusses mouth. She used to do this when Puss was tired and Puss would drink quite a bit this way.



We have a super duper vet and she was great. Renal cats can 'crash' and have a wee crisis that takes them to the vets. Fluids and rest can give them more time and sub cut fluids at home can help bring them back to normal. Mum tried sub cut injections at home a few times - she isn't scared of needles and Puss was a good girl and didn't wriggle too much. Nice vet Natalie showed mum how to put pegs on the back of Pusses neck that made her go all quiet too.



Natalie also told us that we would know when the time was right to bring Puss in for her final visit. She was right - mum knew. Poor old puss didn't want any food or water and was all wobbly. Mum knew that night and asked her special friend to go with her the next day. Still makes mum cry to think about it. It was a tough day but so the right thing to do. Mum wishes she had known about cat blogging then because she could have asked for support. Mum is glad though that she had so much time with Puss and that she was able to be with Puss giving her cuddles at the end.

One of mums good friends had a wee cat Millie. Millie had been sick with thyroid problems but one morning would not eat her breakfast. Then when her mum went out Millie went and sat at the end of the driveway and watched her go. When she came home Millie was gone and never came home. We hope that Millie went somewhere warm and dry and curled up and had sweet dreams.

So today we are thinking of Suzanne and all the other sick pussy cats out there - we hope you all feel better soon. We also know how lucky you are having mums and dads who look after you all so well.

Poppy Q

Let us tell you about PUSS

This is Puss. Puss was mums cat before me. One sunny day, once upon a time, Puss climbed through mums lounge window. The one I am looking out of in yesterdays post. She was very dirty and scruffy looking, and whenever mum said "hello Puss" she purred and purred. Mum was good and did not feed her for a whole week. She wondered why such a lovely cat looked like it was living rough. After a week mum gave in and fed Puss. So Puss moved in and adopted mum. If Puss was your cat and you feel mum stealed her - she is very sorry!!!

Mum thinks Puss was about 9 years old when she first came to stay, and she was a great cat. She loved to talk and sleep on mums bed. Her favourite thing - going for a walk on rubbish bag nite. The minute mum touched the yellow rubbish bags Puss would run for the front door, meowing as she went. She would run down the stairs and head for the street. Mum would take the bags out at 10:30pm so the street was quiet and Puss would run next to mum up one side and down the other. Puss would roll in the gutters and stop for pats at designated patting spots. It was a weekly tradition and people would laugh when they saw mum and her cat out for a walk.

In the summer Puss got sick with a nasty abscess on her tail and when she had to have a blood test she got diagnosed with renal failure. Renal failure is awful and we see that some lovely cats in the blogger community are living with it now. We had some good months though. Mum was very lucky as Puss did not mind the special renal biscuits she had to eat. In the tough times mum was like all the other mums and let her eat anything she needed.

Mum also had to learn how to give sub-cut injections of fluid which helped Puss for a while. It was tough at the end and we send out our good thoughts to you all coping with this. If we can help you let us know.

This is puss playing her favourite game in the bed - where's puss!!

We will tell you more about Puss in other posts.

Poppy Q