The Katsu Chronicles, Part 3

The last we spoke of Katsu, she’d just made her shock return to The Cabin.

Upon her return, Alicia and I couldn’t help but notice how much—and how quickly—her health seemed to have degraded, quite worryingly so!

Many of her whiskers had turned white, her voice had changed, she’d lost a noticeable amount of weight, her fur was matted, dry, and brittle, her eyes glassy and dull, and she seemed to have all the fading energy of an animal waiting to die.

Knowing the folks at her primary home were unlikely to take her to the vet, we took the initiative and brought in her for some tests to see what was up with the wee one.

Her results weren’t wonderful—irritable bowel syndrome and stage 1 kidney failure. If left unchecked, the vet’s prognosis was a painful death before the year’s end.

Fortunately, the treatment he suggested for both issues is reliable, cost-effective, and impactful in slowing her decline and granting her another few years of kitty life: 

A low-protein diet and a monthly steroid shot (and more calories).

For such a delightful cat who has brought us so much joy—a feline elder of 16 years who we’ve taken to calling “grandma”—enhancing her quality of life and giving her 2-3 more years to roam, play, and explore feels like the least we can do for her.

Meanwhile, Katsu has continued her near-daily visits. She often stays long enough for a couple of meals, plenty of pets, and many hours of comfortable sleeping. While her and Yuki aren’t friends (Katsu isn’t into other cats), they’re now able to coexist in the same space with minimal incident (so long as Yuki’s curiosity doesn’t bring her into Katsu’s personal space—which we have to keep an eye on, the curious little one).

And so life with 1.5 cats rolls on!

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander