Door Opener & Max is checking out

Well, I can't say for sure whether it was Max leaning against it or if Charlotte finally has figured out how to open the door to my office.  This morning it was open just enough she could get in.  It's a bi-fold door, so it just takes enough of a push in the right place to get it started. I'll keep an eye on it and see if I catch her opening it ... if she does there won't be any point in keeping it closed any more.

At this point, she's about as big as my first cat was at a year old (7 pounds).  She's 5 months old today.  Her paws look a bit big for the rest of her.  We'll keep an eye on how she grows.  Sarah caught me by surprise when, at a year and a half, I realized she'd grown to 12 pounds.  I've never had an itty bitty kitty.  And it doesn't look like we're starting now.

The picture's perspective makes makes her look a little bigger than she is, but not a whole lot.


On the other hand, things aren't going so well for Max.  His "things" that are growing on him are continuing to pop up.  Some of them, he has licked open and we are having to constantly remind him to stop licking them.  We've also had to "diaper" him.  Last night it was with a triangle bandage (the kind you'd use for a sling) with the short side split to tie around his tail.  Today it's an old T-shirt, with the excess waist material safety pinned over his back to keep him from just walking out of it.  We have an appointment with the vet next week - he's headed out of town and it was the earliest we could get him in - to see what we can do about the worst of his lesions. 

His hind legs continue to weaken.  He can still make it up the stairs, but sometimes it's barely.  He needs help getting into the car more and more often.  But, he still wants his rides and he still stands up while the car is moving.  We'll see how this week goes for him.  On the plus side, last night he ate more than he has in quite a while.  I gave him a very small crumbled hamburger patty and he ate it like he was starving.  He then acted like he wanted his dinner so I opened a can for him and he ate most of it right away.  Later I fed him a big hamburger patty, crumbled up.  Even though it was on a big platter and Charlotte stuck her head in to get some, she got little or none of it.  He ate it all.  That's the most he's eaten in an evening in a long time.  Most nights he takes a few slurps of the gravy, eats a quarter to half overnight, and might or might not eat the rest of the can the following morning.

With the lesions, weakening hind legs, diminishing appetite, along with "the stare", we feel like he's fading, sort of "checking out".  "The stare" - he'll stop and just look into the distance.  He doesn't seem to really be there.  He doesn't always know which side of a door to pass - the "people door" in the garage that goes outside opens in and if he's not on top of his game he might head into the wedge on the wrong side of the door.  Part of it may be the fading vision, but some seems to be more like he just isn't there behind those eyes. 

Each day is one more gift ... every day since last October has been a gift.