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Today marks one year since we lost Toby–my little shadow, my BFF for so many years. Nobody can replace him; the new boys are a delight and a solace and their own silly personalities, but they’re not Toby.
His last six months were so hard and I still wonder if we waited too long to say goodbye. But I wanted all the time I could get with my boy and I’m glad I had it. We love you, baby.
We had to say goodbye to Toby yesterday. He’d been slowing down and having more accidents, but he’d gotten through so much–getting his thyroid under control, diabetes, the remission scare–that I thought he’d just keep going.
But Wednesday he started having balance issues and was lethargic; blood work at the vet showed something was wrong and he’d lost a lot of weight. We wanted him to be at home, so he got some heavy-duty pain meds and had a good night. Then the mobile vet came Thursday morning and he left us in his cozy bed hearing us tell him what a good boy he was.
I had nearly 18 years with my boy–he was my orange shadow, my fabric inspector, our midnight singer, my constant companion, the other half of my heart. He had such a big personality. Seeing these photos of earlier years, I realized how much of that personality was fading the last couple weeks. So I know this was the right decision. I’m glad we could give him the gift of a peaceful exit at home. We just had to break our own hearts to do it.
It certainly makes golden things more golden…
(Also, I’m back! Taking a week off made me miss posting, which makes sense–I’ve been doing this for 19 years now.)
Our old man has been falling asleep in stranger and stranger positions–the most current is when his head flops backwards instead of forwards when he’s getting drowsy.
He’s a silly kitty and a high-maintenance kitty, but he’s the best kitty.
Toby is EIGHTEEN this month and oof, the senior pet feelings are really something: He’s been the constant of my life, before Doc or even before the house, but this year the days are feeling a little less like a given and more like a bonus.
But he’s doing pretty well for The World’s Oldest Cat–still alert, still bossing us around, plus he cured his own diabetes. He’s an old boy but he’s a good boy. He’s our boy.
And we’re still moving slow over here (well, I am). I didn’t end up shaking off my head cold so I spent all weekend surrounded by tissues. Nothing major–my main symptom is mostly being extremely!! annoyed!! by my sinuses–but enough to spend a lot of time with Dr. Toby on the couch. He did his best to stay awake on duty but you can see he dropped off a few times.
We haven’t been on a hike in nearly two months but, in the ever-useful words of Doc, “there’s been a lot going on.” Toby is doing really well, though, so that’s worth any number of weekends at home. He’s even climbing stairs multiple times a day (and night)–not bad for a kitty who’s turning 18 in a month.
It’s been over a month since we’ve been in the mountains and I’m getting antsy–but it’s also nice to stay home with Toby (who’s doing great) and get some spring cleaning done.
How is Toby, you ask? Reader, he cured his own diabetes.
We just finished a round of him wearing a glucose monitor, like we do every six months, and–despite not having any insulin since his hypoglycemia scare–his blood sugar is absolutely normal. His vet tells us that cats can go into diabetic remission, but it’s usually sooner after diagnosis. Toby clearly just does what he wants.
He’s also acting just fine since his appetite loss/possible thyroid issues the week after the hypoglycemia scare, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he fixed his thyroid levels, too.
Toby’s recovery after his hypoglycemia scare kind of stalled out by mid week, and by Friday he was eating and drinking less and less. He had diarrhea and vomiting Saturday night and refused to eat anything at all Sunday morning … so back to the weekend vet we went.
His overnight stay for hypoglycemia was at the 24-hour MedVet hospital in Salt Lake City. We were about to take him back there and just deal with the 2- to 4-hour wait for the ER when Matt found the MedVet “urgent care” location in Sandy. It’s not 24 hours and it’s not critical care, but you can schedule an appointment and for things like dehydration and vomiting. Highly recommend for urgent weekend care. (Well, some of us do. Others don’t recommend it at all.)
They did bloodwork and his blood sugar was fine but his thyroid levels were off, which was probably causing the intestinal issues and loss of appetite–the poor little guy was queasy. He got fluids under the skin and an anti-nausea shot and then ate an entire can of tuna the staff gave him while we waited for his results.
He’s back to eating and drinking just fine now and he has a two follow up appointments over the next two weeks with his regular vet, so HOPEFULLY we’re not going to have another dip in the thrilling Old Kitty Roller Coaster after this.
“Yeah Mom, I hope so too. You better not get that cat carrier out again.”