Renn the Oldster

Chapter two in the continuing updates on the health of the Cosy Apartment’s remaining cats features Renn. My big boy, now also officially my oldster, is doing well.

The problem with his urination is being managed. The veterinary originally prescribed three units daily of an anti-inflammatory medicine. It worked well, apparently reducing the mass in Renn’s bladder and, correspondingly, decreasing the desire to wet frequently; the latter was caused by the mass filling the bladder’s interior and making it feel full of urine. Renn would make repeated trips to the litter-box and leave very little or nothing. Leaving nothing was troubling to him because he would then simply sit in the box waiting for urine, that wasn’t there, to flow.

As per the doctor’s instructions, I tried lowering the amount of medicine Renn received daily, or keeping the amount and reducing its frequency (ie. giving it every other day). These attempts were not successful. They led to more trips to the boxes, more tiny lumps left in the litter; never as much as when he received no medicine, but still bothersome for the big boy.

Currently, he is being given three units a day again. The difficulty with this is that it will hurt his kidneys over time, but a shorter, comfortable life is, I think, preferable to a longer uncomfortable life, at least for a cat. I have gone over this argument previously, and so won’t waste space doing so here. Each reader has gone through something similar, so each understands.

The question I have is whether the mass in the bladder reasserts itself effectively each time I reduce the amount or frequency of the anti-inflammatory medicine. It seems unlikely – and cannot be determined without daily or even hourly ultra-sound examinations – so it may be that the mass is caused by, causes, or in some way is related to, cystitis. Previously, Renn’s urine and blood were analysed and found to be surprisingly healthy. Therefore, it is probable that idiopathic (veterinarian for ‘I dunno’) cystitis – connected in some way to the former mass in the bladder – is at fault here. The most that seems practicable is what is being done now – application of the anti-inflammatory – so I have not talked to the veterinary again about this. But I will need to renew Renn’s supply of medicine soon and, though the doctor has considerately left an indefinite prescription for it, I will likely take the opportunity to go over Renn’s situation with her.

For now, however, I am please with my oldster’s health. I can tell that he is not suffering pain from anything; when he had the feeling of needing to urinate, he was restless, clearly in some discomfort. I wish he would eat more but those familiar with Renn’s past know that he has never eaten much; he is simply consuming now an amount commensurate with an older Renn. His gait is a little more uncertain, especially on narrow paths, and he is slower. But these are the signs of age, I’m afraid, an illness for which there is as yet no cure. If my big boy suffers that ailment in reasonable comfort and contentment, all is well.