Catster

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One and Only

One Last Slap

In May of 2006, for two days in a row he was more vocal than normal. It was a meow that I had only heard from him on several occations. Most of them because he needed help. Once because he had tangled himself in his own collar and again when he had fallen behind the bookshelves. I took this as a hint and made a monday appointment for the veterinarian.

At first, they thought that he was impacted. He hadn't stopped eating yet, but I could tell that something hurt. His back was arched ever so slightly like he was in pain. By Monday he was getting less active. After that he stopped eating while he was getting his diagnostics. It turned out that he was not impacted, however. After a few tests they discovered that one of his kidneys was grossly enlarged.

A sonigram revealed that it did not looked like cancer normally would, which was the primary concern. It was suggested that I take him to a specialist. Much discussion later, it was theorized that the tube connecting his kidney to his bladder had burst, filling his body with urine and keeping the kidney from being able to remove toxins. It is also believed that he had an underlying kidney condition because the other kidney was unable to compensate at all.

He purred right up to the very end.