more kitty news, climbing to the next rung

I just received the lab results for Juliet's blood draw, yes, at 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon, hours after the vet clinic closed. Except for one test, it appears that she's managed to remain stable since May. She continues to have signs of kidney disease and anemia and perhaps a little hypo-thyroidism, but nothing seems to be screamingly out of control, and very little seems to have changed in six months.

This is especially heartening because I've been cheating on her strict diet a little bit in an effort to make food more attractive to her. The age-old question -- is it better to die of starvation with two nearly intact kidneys? Or risk aggravating the kidney disease while helping her maintain her weight? I talked this decision over with Dr. Randy before acting on it, and he was supportive. So I wasn't cheating in secret.

Anyways, all this means that we haven't slid down a chute yet. Instead, we get to climb the ladder, perhaps by just one rung, and set up an appointment with the veterinarian dental surgeon. She could, of course, look at me as if I had three heads, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, the cat has been super affectionate, as have we. She's going through a phase where she purrs loudly, enough so that I can hear her across a room. And sometimes she starts purring just because she's in the same room with one of us. These are sweet days, indeed.