Mr. Spock

This is my oldest cat, Mr. Spock. He's an indoor only cat and he's getting close to 17! He was my first cat that lived inside and I've had him around almost as long as my husband! (We'd only been dating about 6 months when Mr. Spock came along.) A girl at the Nursing Home where I worked brought this huge kitten to work with her and he was so pretty. I asked her about him and she had 4 more to give away, so she brought him to me the next day. He wasn't too friendly, but it didn't take long being inside to warm up to us. Now he loves to sit in your lap, snuggle under the covers with you and especially rubbing his head on your bare feet! He used to be really big, 18½ lbs. at one time! A few years ago he started to lose weight. I had been trying to get him to lose for a long time, but when he finally started to lose, I worried. I took him to the vet and they did bloodwork and found out he has Chronic Kidney Disease (Chronic Renal Failure). When I found out, I thought he just had a few months. The vet said, "he may have a good 6 months or year left." So I was prepared to lose him in the next few months, but he must be one tough kitty. That was in June, 2009.  He also had a terrible inner ear infection, or we think so. I found him hiding behind the fridge and he was so wobbly, he could barely walk. One vet said over the phone it sounded like a stroke. We took him to the emergency vet and they said it was an inner ear infection. He did improve, but our regular vet says she isn't convinced he didn't have a stroke. He's had that happen a few times since, but not in over a year. I have been giving him fluids every day for a few months and that helps him a lot. Last fall, his vet said she didn't expect him to make it until Christmas and here we are a year later and he is doing okay. Not perfect by any means, but happy, eating, getting his fluids and enjoying the attention. I feel lucky to have had him around for so long! I will share what info I have about his kidney disease and some links to info about giving fluids, etc.

By the way, Mr. Spock is the boss of our house. He always has been and no matter how old he gets or how much more energy the others have, he keeps them in line!