My old kitty....

My cat Duchess is getting older.  Whenever I am feeling sorry for her and she is looking particularly decrepit, she manages to get into some type of trouble- knocking a trash can down, getting into a bag of rolls on the counter.  She has a long list of ailments, but nothing that really knocks her down.  As I hear about and witness senile, old arthritic animals on a regular basis, I remember how lucky I am that she has been fairly healthy for as long as she has, and lucky that my biggest gripes with her are her naughtiness.

There are some changes that come with her age- she sleeps all the time and she has an obnoxious "Meoww".  I'm pretty sure she's deaf (the only way to confirm would be taking her to a neurologist for advanced testing, but her diagnosis wouldn't change anything.)  Her "Meoww" is of such a large volume that it could wake the dead.  I'm sure if she heard it, she'd be annoyed at herself.

Duchess still has attitude and if she was a person, I'd imagine she'd be like Sophia on "Golden Girls" or the cranky Hallmark lady.  She's got "Tortitude" which means a Tortie with attitude.  As I was getting frustrated by her losing weight, (she's faked diabetes for me as well as many other diseases that get me stressed out because her initial testing will come back positive and her follow-up will be ok) I called her a "Brat" in front of my son when casually talking to a veterinary staff member.  My four year old immediately said, "but I love Duchess mommy, Duchess is a good girl!"  He then went on insisting that he wanted to carry her carrier out to the car and that he wanted to be the one who let her out of the kennel when we got home.  He showed me just how much he loved her.  Though he is not aware of her many annoying habits and her impact on our pocketbook, he reminded me what a sweet, wonderful kitty she can be and that at this time, she's the only pet my son actually likes (He's not a fan of the large dog because he knocks his toys down).  Sometimes, looking at the world through a four-year old's eyes is
helpful...