The "Cats" Part - or Why I Haven't Posted in Almost 2 Months

The week before Thanksgiving, my beautiful and fiesty 12-year old tabby cat, Phoebe, yowled in pain and was taken to the vet, presumably with some sort of UTI. After a week of blood work and antibiotics, we discovered that she had Chronic Renal Failure (or CRF). This is a common killer of kitties and we were heartbroken. We hospitalized her for IV fluid treatment and she didn't respond well. Phoebe quit eating and her blood tests weren't showing improvement after the initial downtrend. We took her home, presumably just to give her a little bit of good time at home before it was her time to leave us forever. After a few hours, it became clear she was miserable and we took her to the emergency vet thinking she would be put to sleep. Fortunately for all of us, the emergency vet was wonderfully supportive and we ended up giving her some fluids and anti-nausea drugs and taking her back home. She perked up overnight and even ate a little bit. We have since then been on a mission to find a treatment pattern to help her. She is on Sub-Q fluids three times a week and is eating normally and living a typical kitty life, with the exception of the fluids. She is a CRF cat and that isn't going to go away, but we for the moment are all in a good spot and I'm very grateful for that. Phoebe is an amazing little kitty and I'm so happy she is still with us.