The vet came by yesterday for another check of Pippa, our fifteen-ish year old tuxedo cat.  At her annual exam in February, Dr. Reiner told us that Pippa now has old-age kidney problems, and gave us a prescription to try the special kidney health food made by Science Diet.  We filled the prescription, presented it to Pippa with fanfare, and…Pippa does NOT like the food.  The least picky cat in the world has decided to be picky about the food that could keep her healthy.  In the month and a half since we started her on the food, she’s lost weight and developed an even shabbier looking coat and skin than she had before, and she’s become a heat-seeker, lying on the hot air vents if the woodstove isn’t running.

So yesterday Dr. Reiner examined Pippa to see if she had an abdominal tumor (thankfully she does not), and also examined Ophy to see if she could get a urine sample to try to solve the mystery of why Ophy is pulling out the glorious long fur at the base of her tail (but she couldn’t feel Ophy’s bladder through the layer of fat that Ophy has put on from eating Pippa’s uneaten food).  Jim was at home yesterday with Dr. Reiner, and he called me on my lunch break to let me talk to her.  I pussy-footed around asking what I wanted to know, which is:  how much longer do we have with Pippa?  And of course there’s no real answer to that question.

But it’s clear that Pippa’s time is short now.  Dr. Reiner told us to put Pippa back on regular food, since she’s obviously on hunger strike because she doesn’t like the kidney food.  And we need to be sure that Pippa is getting enough water, which at the moment she does on her own, but in the future we may need to give her fluids under her skin (not quite sure how that would work).  I asked Dr. Reiner what we should look for as signs that it was time to call her back in again to, um, see Pippa; the signs are vomiting, weight loss, and something else that I promptly forgot.

My goal these days is to have as much quality time with Pippa as possible.  I spend time every morning brushing her, since she doesn’t groom herself as well anymore, and she loves that.  And then we play together, sometimes twice a day, and for our short play sessions she’s as frisky as a kitten (until she gets tired, but she is an old lady now).  And until spring hits, the woodstove will be cranked so that Pippa can enjoy her favorite spot on the ottoman by the stove.  And, of course, my lap is always available for snuggling and ear scratching when I’m home.

It’s all about making Pippa’s last days as enjoyable and as full of love as possible, and also ensuring that Pippa’s exit from this world is full of grace and dignity.  When life becomes too much for her, when her body decides that it can’t keep things going anymore, then we’ll call Dr. Reiner and have Pippa put to sleep at home with all the love and tenderness that this former street cat from Maynard who fed her six kittens out of a dumpster deserves.  She’s a good kitty, and we love her.