If you think Quint looks smug, you might be right. It’s tax day here in the states. Quint got his taxes filed clear back in February and due to his excellent choice in accountants, he neither had to pay nor got a refund. He broke even. No one made money off any over-contribution of taxes, he didn’t make a silly big withdrawals that would affect his tax class status and he didn’t claim goofy itemizations; in fact, he didn’t itemize at all this year. Just went with the straight filing of single head of household of Quint.
Nope. Not expecting a call or letter from some tax department. Smugly, Quint assures us all his paperwork was on the up and up.
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!
Oh sure. Mom’s running around to appointments here and there while preparing for a workman to come fix something with the house and there’s Viola without a care in the world, snorgling a Yeoww catnip cigar as if nothing else mattered. We suppose to her, she’s right. Dad almost said he wished he could do the same and Mom almost said she could assure that could happen.
News on Millie the visiting raccoon that had a habit of touching Mom’s shoe: Millie has a wild raccoon friend and is transitioning into a real raccoon herself. We no longer see her during the day hours (that may change if she has kits this year), and we’ve seen her at dusk a couple of times with her friend. She’s put on a little weight but could use more. Her odd tail fur fluff spot is still noticeable and she always stops and looks at us when we talk to her. Meanwhile, her wild friend skedaddles! No baby talk for that raccoon!
