I’ve been putting off writing this post because it’s difficult for me to go over my memories and images of this time all over again.
At the end of January our cat Boo, one of our 2 oldest, got really sick. The first response from the vet was that his kidneys were failing. I feared the worst and cried my eyes out. The vet was trying what they could for Boo, and I knew I had to visit him as much as possible to keep his spirits up.
The first time I saw Boo he was grumpy. He growled even at me like he didn’t recognize me. It took me a few times calling his name for him to realize I was even there with him. Then he was just quiet and looked at me. I gently petted him after making sure he was okay and realized who I was. I stayed for a bit and then I had to leave as the vet was closing for the night.
The second time they took me to Boo’s cage in their basement. Boo seemed depressed. He was lying in the back of the cage. He had peed on the newspaper back there and he was just lying in his urine. I softly called to Boo as I played some soothing music on my cell phone. I also brought a cat brush and started brushing his fur, trying to cheer him up.
I asked my husband to visit Boo in the mornings and to bring the brush too. I was really worried that Boo would just give up. I wanted to do everything we could to lift his spirits, to remind him that we were still here and we still loved him.
Over time Boo did fight back. He was diagnosed with a bad UTI which lead to the kidney problems. The good news is that, as far as we know so far, Boo has no lasting damage to his kidneys. However, at the same time, we found out Boo was diabetic. The vet gave us some long-acting insulin to take with his meals twice a day. Boo also needed to be on a special canned diet for his diabetes.
Boo came home and improved. Then days later after Boo’s breakfast, my husband found Boo unresponsive. Thinking quickly, he made some sugar water and ‘fed’ it to Boo. He responded and when I got home from work I took Boo to the vet. His blood sugars were very low. So I had to leave Boo for a few hours while the vet gave him glucose until the insulin shot wore off. The vet discontinued the insulin, but he still needed to be on a special diet.
Eventually, Boo’s diabetes got better and we were able to get him off the special vet canned diet. He still needs a canned diet now, but at least we can buy stuff off the shelves instead of special food with a prescription. He can’t have anything with gravy, just pate and flaked canned food. No more dry for Boo because it has so many carbs. And of course this meant all of the cats went to eating canned food for now on.
Since this whole ordeal Boo has gotten better. Though he has been a lot more clingy to us since coming home from the vet. His fur on his leg grew back, however some fur at the very tip of his tail turned white. Even the vet isn’t sure why it happened. I like to call Boo’s white tuff on his tail his ‘flag.’ I say things now like, “Boo, I love you flag” and “Boo, where’s your flag?”
I’ve been grateful every day since Boo came home that he’s still with us. I spoiled Boo before, but now I pet and whisper to him when he snuggles up to me. Boo follows me around the house still, not wanting to be alone. The poor boy just went through so much. I can only hope he doesn’t have any more major health issues.