Yeah, I know.... pathetic....

OK, so lately my blogs have been few and far between, and when I do get around to writing them it seems to be mostly about the damn cats. Can't help it.... other than work, they've been taking lots of my time and preoccupation. So call me pathetic, I don't care!

Ironically, Max is the one I've been worried about the most, but it appears I should be spoiling Moses more. Today I finally got Dr. Tom over for their much belated yearly check-up. The timing seemed great, because on Monday Max's eye started gushing again and the flinching has been pretty steady. Doesn't seem to bother his appetite though. Nothing comes between Max and his food (he's learned some behaviors from his mommy....) But Moses has not been a concern for me, other than the evident and inevitable aging.

However, Dr. Tom told me Moses now has a heart murmur and is dehydrated. How can he be dehydrated? He's drinking all the time and I've been refilling the water bowl far more often - sometimes twice a day. Well, yeah, he's drinking more, but he's peeing more too - which means the kidneys aren't working well and the water is going right through him, which also can lead to the heart murmur. Because Moses is so old, Dr. Tom didn't recommend putting him through any tests (like I would have even considered it) and the only treatment he prescribed is spoiling him. Basically, Moses is old and spiraling down - although to quote Dr. Tom, "It's a slow spiral." He'll gradually keep eating less (he's already pretty skinny and won't eat treats because he knows they make him puke) and at some point he'll probably stop eating at all. But he's not in any pain and shouldn't be with this.

On the other hand, other than his "ugly eye that could be used in a horror movie," Max is doing great. Heart's good, hydration's good, appetite's good.... you wouldn't know little chunky boy is sick if you didn't see his ugly eye. Go figure.

Best news for both of them is, Dr. Tom said neither one needs to get shots again - between the advanced age and their health issues, the shots would be an unnecessary pain. Lucky boys! It's kind of like Mom realizing she'll never need to have another colonoscopy or mammogram again in her lifetime because of her cancer. (And after getting my mammogram today, and all the damn re-shots the tech had to take, I envy her!)

I've come to realize there are other parallels between my cats and my parents too. While Max is the one with the most visible health issue, he's overall in better shape and will probably live the longest of the two. And while Mom is the one with the cancer, she's overall in better shape than my Dad with his congestive heart failure - and Dad is sure she'll still outlive him. So most likely in both cases, old age will take a toll before cancer and tumors.

My only fear is that I'll end up losing all four of them at or near the same time. That would suck. (And that's probably the biggest understatement of the year.)