Tessa’s vet visit was late last week and honestly, we didn’t think it was going to happen at all. There were mix-ups with her appointment. There were mix-ups with her name. There were mix-ups with the number of cats we had and had already brought into this new vet. Apparently, people just don’t have more than two cats, they thought, and that thought would be perfectly okay with Tessa.
There was a mix-up with what room we were waiting to be seen in. Through it all, Tessa was very calm. Most unusual but Mom ran with it, thankful she and Tessa were there at all. All the Colehaus Cats now have their vaccines and are up to date on their senior profiles because all three are considered seniors now. It’s odd thinking Viola as a senior. but she’ll be 13 this coming October. Can you believe it?
Tessa has entered stage 3 kidney disease. We were expecting this. We know the signs. We’ve lost cats much younger than Tessa’s 14 years to kidney disease, and some a bit older. Because Tessa is a notoriously picky and stubborn eater, we won’t be switching her over to a high priced wet food diet that some vets profess to help and that she will not eat. Our experience with over 40 cats, 15 of whom passed from kidney disease, taught us this particular canned food diet did not help but did lighten our wallets considerably. Kidney disease, for all one can do to ease and slow it down, goes on its own time and course.
We then talked on the subject of quality of life, Tessa’s quality of life, not ours, and a cat’s quality of life has always been huge for us. When the time comes, which won’t be anytime soon, Tessa will let us know and we have a vet who understands.
The rest of her senior panel bloodwork was extensive and all other functions came back as normal. We’re not sure how Tessa would react to being called “normal” so Shhh! Let’s keep that info to ourselves. She was subdued on the way home unlike the obnoxiously loud yodeling she exhibited on the way there and after 24 hours or so, she showed Mom some affection, which Mom wore on her flannel shirt for the rest of the day. Hey, cat fur is a fashion statement around here!
Big THANK YOUs to dear Friends of Colehaus who helped with the cost of Tessa’s vet visit and senior panel and bloodwork. Thank you MC and GH from all of us!
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A Colehaus Cats flashback:
2025 – No post
2024 – No post
2023 – No post
2022 – No post
2021 – No post
2020 – For the Love of Boxes
2019 – No post
2018 – The Friday Fluff
2017 – No post
2016 – Wordless Wednesday
2015 – MamaCat Monday
2014 – No post
2013 – No post
2012 – The Art of the Stretch
We are with you on expensive ‘prescription’ food.
Purrs for Tessa, even if she’ll refuse to accept them.
Sending best wishes for Tessa. I am glad everything else was normal.
I appreciate what you said about the prescription food. I’ve made the same decision with Mudpie. I want her to eat what she enjoys, which is Fancy Feast (finally). It’s bad enough I had to take her beloved kibble away from her because of the diabetes.
I am sorry Tessa has kidney disease. I never had luck with that food either. I figure they deserve to eat what they want. XO
I get it, you can’t fight to get a cat to eat what it won’t eat, no matter how good for them it’s supposed to be.
We are sorry about Tessa’s kidney disease. Our vet once gave us a list of wet food options tiered from “best => good => okay” for our cats with CKD (Gracie and Zoe, I think). I remember we ended up going with something in the “good,” and they liked it.