The news is all good at least for now. Due to  Smokey’s age he is starting to develope kidney problems. This is not unusual in older cats but there was no infection or anything like that. For now he is in the early stages and all are going to do is make some adjustments in his diet to try to reduce the stress on the kidneys.

He will have to have another blood panel in 6 months to monitor any changes so we can stay on top of it. As the condition progresses there are medications that can be introduced but we don’t have to go that route yet.

Rocky was happy to have his buddy home and calm seems to have returned to the household.

You can see Smokey’s picture in the gallery of Yankee Magazine’s cutest cat in New England photo contest. Rocky’s is there too.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/ecard/index.php?action=See%20Photos&sortby=&category=108

Thanks for all the well wishes and support. Hopefully Smokey has a few more good years ahead of him.

As you know if you have been following this blog recently, I have a sick cat. Actually I have 2 cats and one of them was having excessive bathroom issues. Hmmm. The problem was that neither I nor my pet sitter had been able to catch the culprit in the act so I didn’t know which one.

Don’t get me wrong. The culprit was very clean. He wasn’t missing the litter box or anything like that. It was just there was so much volume that there were not puddles but lakes in the box when I’d go to “scoop” it.  That kind of thing can be a sign of kidney disease, diabetes or thyroid just to name a few. All are very common in senior cats.

Smokey is 13 (as best we can figure out) and Rocky is 10. That meant that they were both considered seniors and were both candidates.

$400+ later and a couple of stressful visits to the vet for blood tests and the results were in. Rocky was fine but Smokey had elevated levels. Don’t ask me which levels. I couldn’t spell them even if I knew what they were. But I do appreicate the vet telling me and not “dumbing down” the results. The next step is to collect a urine sample for more testing.

I’m sure most if not all my readers have had to “pee in a cup” for their doctor at one time or another. Sometimes it isn’t easy to “go” on demand but at least we can understand why we have to do it. How do you explain to a cat that you need him to “pee in a cup”?

My vet had 2 options. One was to bring him in and they would keep him in a cage until he decided to “go”. They said sometimes it can take up to 3 days because the cat will “hold” it  in since he is in a strange environment.

Option 2 was for me to take a little kit home and collect it myself. (Fun).

First problem..I have 2 cats in a 1 bedroom condo. Isolating one is not easy. The current set up is that the “Kitty commodes” are in the closet next to the human bathroom as the human bathroom is so tiny there’s no room for litter boxes in there. If I close the bedroom door then one cat will not be able to get to their bathroom.

 So I made a trip to Walmart for a Mini-kitty pan ($1.98) and put the pellets from the kit in that. I then got water and cat food and put all of that in my tiny bathroom. I next caught my poor, trusting kitty and dumped him there too and closed the door. Starting his solitary confinement.

Special "Kitty Pellets"

About 2 hours later I need to use the facilities so I figured it would be a good chance to check on Smokey. He was on strike. He hadn’t touched his food , water or his “special” litter and the bathroom was getting pretty stuffy and warm. Time for an alternative.

I pulled out the “Kitty walk” tunnel and moved the food and water to one end and put the kitty litter in the other end. Smokey was in the middle. I located this by the open slider in the living room. Now Smokey could see outside and Rocky and I would be there with him. No isolation this way.

Within the first 1/2 hour Smokey had flipped both his water dish and the kitty litter box and was hunkered down for a good sulk. I refilled the water and scraped up the little pellets and put them back in the litter box but did not give up. Smokey stayed in the enclosure. He just gave me evil kitty looks.

Ok two hours later the water and litter are both upside down again and Smokey is huddled in a lump in the middle of the Kitty walk. I don’t think this is going to work.

The last idea I can come up with is to drag one of the litter boxes into the living room for Rocky. Close the closet door so Smokey can’t get in to use one of the other boxes. I emptied  Smokey’s favorite box and pulled that out and set the “mini” box inside it. I gave him fresh food and water and showed him the box. He is now confined in my bedroom. He has a window, my bed, a chair, cat toys, food and water and the Special litter box. Rocky is on the other side in the living room.

I didn’t count on Smokey having an accomplice to escape captivity. Rocky can open anything. All of my cupboards have child safety locks to keep him out. The tri-fold doors all have stools or something in front of them because he can open those too. Anyway, within 10 minutes I see 2 fuzzy bodies come racing around the end of the couch and the bedroom door is open. It was the Great Kitty Escape!

I caught Smokey and returned him to the bedroom. I then closed the bedroom door and stuffed a dust cloth in the door so it would stick. Hopefully “Houdini” cat won’t be able to open that.

Success…sort of. Rocky started to work on the door right away. When he couldn’t get it open he turned into a maniac cat. He raced around the living room yowling. I guess that was his way of venting his frustration. Right now he is standing on top of his cat tree with his tail whipping back and forth in aggravation.

one very aggravated cat

I have seldom seen the Rockster so upset.

Well he’ll just need to “get over it”. I can only hope that Smokey will finally get the message and “pee in the cup.”

Editor in Chief

Editor-in-Chief  Rocky here with  an update on Smokey. We got the blood tests back and there were some elevated enzyme levels. Basically Smokey is showing signs of possible kidney issues. He is not in renal failure but there is cause for concern. More tests are underway but the Vet is hopeful that the progression can be delayed with a change of diet. That means a “prescription” diet, no more off the shelf cat food.

If the condition is confirmed then there is no cure. It is just the natural progression of old age in male cats and all we can hope to do is delay the inevitable. At this point we don’t know if he has one year or 10 years but at least we have identified the problem early.

Smokey

As the results of the additional tests come in (probably next week) we will update you here. Even though Smokey doesn’t hold any “position” like Rocky does, he is still an important part of the Dusty Roads Family and we will continue to share developments.