As I write this, Mr. Marv is not doing well.
This news came unexpectedly to both Mr. Bill and I. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Bill jokingly said “Marv is going to outlive me”. It would appear, that is not going to be the case. Marv is 15 years old this October and he has been with me since he was a little kitten. In a previous post I regaled about Marvin’s early life as an “assassin”.
About three weeks ago, Marv began to vomit uncontrollably and frequently over a two day period. By Friday of that week, and with the closest emergency care pet hospital an hour away and presently, only available for dying pets, we contacted smart.vet. You register, pay $85 flat fee, and request online an appointment with a vet.
Within a half hour we were on video and talking to a vet in Burlington. More importantly we were able to train our camera on Marv so she could see him. Based on his breathing pattern, she determined that he was stable enough to make it through the night until we were able to see our home vet the next day a Saturday.
Our vet took blood, urine and an x-ray. Based on his dramatic weight loss since his last weigh in a year ago, he didn’t offer much hope. “Don’t expect much” he said. He is a senior cat, with dramatic weight loss. He is dehydrated and lethargic.
After administering treatment, which included rehydration, vitamin supplements, medicine to prevent further vomiting and to encourage eating, we brought Marv home.
The results of the tests were pretty grim. The tests confirmed our vet’s suspicions Marv was suffering from kidney disease. We followed his written and verbal instructions. We administered the medication, we purchased the recommended food and then we watched and waited for a miracle.
Initially Marv seemed to recover some of his lost appetite and enthusiasm for his usual day to day routines. Hopping up onto his window perch in the sunroom, nagging us for food refills and insisting on his daily trips in your arms on endless tours of the house.
Sadly, this did not last. Marv seemed to lose interest in the special food and quickly became thin and weak eating and drinking what seemed like, only enough to stay alive. He threw up the medication almost as soon as it was administered.
In spite of this he found the energy to hop up on our bed in the evening and into his favourite chair in the sunroom during the day.
We were tempted to resign ourselves to the inevitable, but instead Mr. Bill asked if we had any salmon in the house. We did. I poured a little of the juice into Marv’s bowl with a little kibble underneath and brought Marv to the bowl to see what his reaction would be.
It was immediate. He devoured the salmon drippings. And the kibble. He drank water. And so for the past two days this has been our new routine.
As of this morning there was a noticeable bounce to his step, something that has been missing for several weeks. Rather than retreat to a closet to hide he sat down at his bowl and demanded more of the same.
Is he going to all of sudden make a complete recovery? ~ no we are not expecting that.
We are however grateful that he has resumed his annoying habit of waking us up in the middle of the night, that he seems to have found at least a bit of an appetite, and does not appear to be in any discernible discomfort.
Everyone in our house is a Senior. We are grateful for every day we get to spend with each other!
Be Bold, be authentically you!
~ Donna