Recent developments in the last few weeks regarding Old Girl has clearly shown me that she is about ready to call it quits. For the last week she has allowed without interruption in the morning when I’m feeding, to let me pet her, without becoming aggressive. Although this thrills me that I am able to do this. I know deep in my heart. The only reason I’m able to, is because she’s ready to give up. That coupled with the fact that. Crazy-Eyes aka Grim Reaper is now buddy-buddy to her,  becoming almost inseparable. Is another clue that she is reaching the end of her life.

His method in the past, is to buddy up to a senior kitty, or a kitty in distress. At first, it looks like he’s offering comfort and companionship. However, this is just an allusion. His intent is to weaken the cat in question. He does this in several ways. He steals the food. I have seen him in the past knock over water bowls, he will also even though he’s neutered, and all my cats are spayed and neutered. He will also mate with the females, and he will fight the nails, the same way that they fight when it is kitten season, and the Toms are fighting for dominance over the females. This morning,  he stole her food. I chased him away and gave her some more wet food, standing over her so that she could eat it without him interfering.

I moved a top-end cat carrier into the back room of the shop where she sleeps and eats. Inside are all the tools necessary for me to capture her and get her safely into the carrier and into the vet. I wish I could say that I would be able to do that today, but I know better. She has to get used to seeing the carrier there with the top open, before I could make another move on her. I am hoping by Monday I will be able to do this peacefully. Just pick her up and put her in the carrier and take her in.

That’s the plan, but when you work with feral cats, plans can go awry. So we will just have to see. It’s almost an advantage to not even plan ahead of time, it’s likely to be accomplished quicker if I don’t think about it and I just do it. Because if I go out there and I’m poised to actually capture her, she will be in tune with that no matter how bad she feels, and she will bolt.

Yesterday, Kota spent the day at the clinic. He had his tests, the bloodwork will not be back until Monday. He did not have one seizure type activity the entire day. This led my vet to tell me that he believes what is wrong with Kota is allergies. I know that I have a dog that seems to be allergic to the world, I also know that allergies in dogs can cause seizures. So I hope he’s right. Come Monday when the results are in we will see what they reveal.

He was given a Cidapoint injection. This is given to highly allergic dogs, and it lasts for a month. My vet kept telling me that every time he looks at Kota’s face, all he saw was “long suffering.” I have to agree in the last few months. Kota has looked miserable. His coat is growing in all different directions as if it doesn’t remember how to grow properly. Since coming home, Kota has  just slept. No seizure type activity has shown up.(Knocking furiously on wood as I type that). He is not flat, he is just exhausted.

Monday will be the target date when we find out what the bloodwork reveals or what it does not. I will hope and pray that there is no true liver damage, no liver shunt, or any other cellular damage to his liver. I also want to add that this morning Kota’s coat looks a lot better than it did yesterday. Right now he’s curled up on his couch and he’s asleep but he is responsive.Fingers crossed, prayers, flying that this is indeed, just allergies. Allergies can be managed, liver damage not so much. I just want to thank the person that sent cat food recently here. It was a great blessing to receive it. Please know we are grateful.