Yesterday I took the pets to the vet  on a hunch that something was amiss.  Calvin has been breathing weird for a little while, he has been getting skinny even though he eats a ton and he’s been pottying inside the house for a little while now when we leave him inside overnight.  It was an informative visit, but did not end with me feeling light and relieved, rather we had to hear some hard news about our little Calvin.  Nine year old Martha, of course, is as healthy as a six year old pup, in case you were wondering.

Turns out he has hyperthyroidism, in fact he is at the end stages of hyperthyroidism.  From what I could understand, his metabolism kicked into overdrive from his overactive thyroid (hence the increase in appetite but lack of weight gain), his heart started beating faster with the increased metabolism, and aging sped up.  With the advance in age and faster heartbeat, his heart became stressed and he started retaining water.  The fluid gathered around his heart and began to fill his lungs (thus the weird breathing), and it filled his lungs to the point where only a small portion of one lung is functioning, and that lung, that portion is vastly deformed now.  He is on Lasix, a diuretic (hence the peeing inside), for now, while we await his blood results.  But it did offer him some relief when he woke up today, his breathing is less labored.  So now, we wait and watch, as our older cat, our first baby, crosses the bridge from middle age to old age and the end game begins.

To me, he’ll always be my little boy, out in the back yard in Bellingham, leaping four feet in the air to catch a crane fly.  He’ll always be the boy who left me treasure in the form of dead rats on my bedroom floor during hot summer nights.  My boy who curled himself around me when I was sick, sad or happy.  For now, we offer him love, kindness and compassion, and hope that when the time does come for him to leave us, that he is filled with the love we have had for him for 11 years.

***And bonus for you if you noticed that our color scheme in our living room matches our cat.  It is actually based on his coloring.

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