Healthy Kitties

March 21, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Life 

Yesterday was the day for our feline senior citizens Isaac and Albert to take their annual trip to the vet.

I think I made one error in judgment.  Generally, my wife and I get home in just enough time to get the cats into their carrier, collect the community stool sample, and get to the vet on time.  Yesterday, we both left work a little early.  The result was that we had time to give the cats their evening feeding before we left.

We bundled the cats into their carriers and drove away.  We do this is Carolyn’s Chrysler Concorde so that there’s enough room in the back seat for both carriers and me in the middle.  I sit between them and try to calm them.

Unfortunately, Isaac got so upset that he threw up in his carrier just as we reached the vet.  The nice folks at the vet’s office cleaned his carrier and gave us a clean towel for him to use on the way home.

Our cats are 11 years old, and BIG.  They have large frames rather than being fat.  Albert weighed in at about 14 lbs. – down from a high of 15.  The vet says that Albert is at his optimal weight – he’s just really big.  Isaac is the larger cat at 15 lbs. down from a high of 18 lbs.

Albert had some odd kidney readings a few years ago, so both cats have been on annual blood and urine tests.  Those were taken.

Carolyn clips their claws and brushes their teeth regularly.  She thought she saw a problem on Albert’s molar, so we checked.  The vet pronounced their teeth wonderful for their age.  In fact, she said that Isaac’s teeth were what she’d expect from a 3-year-old cat.

Isaac has been moving a bit slow lately – particularly up and down stairs.  We asked the vet to check for arthritis, and she thinks there might be an issue with his hips.  We decided that it’s a little early to do X-rays, but we’re going to try Cosequin (glucosamine and chondroitin) on both of their food.  We’ll see how he does.

Otherwise, the cats are in excellent shape!

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