Sophie cheats death yet again

Sophie punched another space on her 9-lives card last week. The latest trip to the vet was due to her refusal (or inability) to eat solid food. She had an appetite, in fact constantly demanded fresh food, then she would just lick the sauce off and leave the solid portion. I was concerned she had a bad tooth and was in pain, so off to the vet we went.

A little background - Sophie has been medically healthy most of her life, but has had a lot of issues with her teeth. She's lost some on her own and has had four dental surgeries to remove bad teeth (2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020). The 2020 surgery was dicey because her blood pressure became unstable while she was under anesthesia. She got through it, but I've worried about her not being able to survive another surgery if needed. And because she clearly hadn't lost her appetite, I was concerned she had a bad, painful tooth that was making eating uncomfortable.

As usual in these circumstances, my fears turned out to be largely unfounded. The vet checked what few teeth she has left and found nothing more serious than tartar. When he pushed on the teeth, she didn't react as if it hurt. The vet thinks the eating issues are probably related to her kidney function, a common issue in older cats, and suggested giving her fluids a couple times a week to make sure she has enough fluids in her body to comfortably digest and pass her food. I've actually had a bag of fluid for a while, but since Sophie really hates getting jabbed and I don't enjoy it either, I've only used it when she was visibly in distress, something that has only happened a couple of times, but it looks like we're going to have to bite the bullet and do the fluids on a regular basis. Sophie will be 19 years old in less than two months and I'll do anything to keep her going with a good quality of life. 

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that if she does need a surgery in the future, it isn't necessarily a death sentence. The vet indicated that if that became necessary they would send her to a major veterinary hospital in West L.A. (which is also the 24-hour emergency vet we've been to in the past). It's a big place and apparently they have specialists, equipment, and drugs that most of the smaller locations don't have. 

 

While all this was going on, I discovered the wonderful world of pureed cat food! Bought a couple of packets and Sophie hoovered them up, so after the vet visit I headed over to PetSmart to stock up. I thought I'd really hit the jackpot until the vet informed me that they don't have the calorie content that regular food has. No kidding - one of her "normal" cups of food has 80 calories, while one packet of the pureed food has 16 calories. So I've been using it as a supplement, mixing it with her regular food, and it seems to be working great - she's been scarfing food down since then.

So again, another trip to the vet where I feared the worst possible outcome, and another result that was a best possible scenario. Sophie lives to fight another day!

 

Too adorbs to die.