Anne and I went to visit Felix this morning, and he just looks wonderful! He’s really responding to the medication, and the tech told us that he’s been “eating like a pig” all day! Of course, we don’t know if he’ll continue to improve or take a turn for the worse when we bring him home, but we’re hoping for the best. If nothing else, it was wonderful to see him looking just like his old self today. His eyes were bright, and we couldn’t see his third eyelids at all. I snapped a great photo of him with my cameraphone, and it should be in the moblog right now.
He was so happy to see us both. He purred so loudly I could hear him across the room, and he let us smother him with love and affection. It’s funny . . . he’s a very affectionate cat, but only on his terms. If we love him too much, he’ll chomp right down on our hands, then turn his back to us, and shake his stump (he’s a Japanese Bobtail, so he’s got a little stump where other cats have tails. It’s pretty cool.) Today, though, he couldn’t get enough love from us. We both sat on the floor, and he just walked back and forth between us, rubbing his face against our hands, and really “talking” quite a bit. He was obviously unhappy about the IV in his little paw, but he didn’t complain about it too much.
We also snuck in some of his favorite food, which he sort of liked. He was more interested in the gravy, but I was just happy to see him eating.
They tell us the visits from a cat’s staff (that’s us) can help the cat do better, and it makes me happy to see him, so I’m going to try to see him again this afternoon. I have an audition for a cartoon down in Hollywood, so it’s going to be close, but if the traffic is willing, I should make it.
Anne and I are beyond moved by the caring and support, as well as the kind advice from so many WWdN readers. I’ve heard from many vets, who have given me encouragement as well as suggested some things to talk to our vet about, and I’m very grateful for that.
We took the dogs for a walk up this canyon earlier today, to give them exercise and to give us a change of scenery while we train for the marathon, and I was telling Anne about all the support and caring that WWdN readers have sent our way, and I got to thinking . . . it’s an incredibly positive chunk of energy, isn’t it? I mean, there are so many ways to make the Internet suck, and here we have found a way to make it not suck, here at this website.
I have always thought that the Internet was about communication, and sharing of information . . . but over the last few years, we’ve shared more than just information. We’ve shared kindness, and support, and love, and all sorts of that tree huggin’ hippie crap that I wish there was more of in the world.
I hope that people who read this site can grab a little bit of that, and help spread it around. It’s pretty cool.
Oh, and this other thing that’s really cool: on our hike up the canyon, we walked past a bunch of cabins . . . and one of them was called “Tom Bombadil’s Castle.” It was under a grove of trees, and everything! I looked for hobbits, but they must have been sleeping.
And thank you to everyone who is helping out with the crapflooding problem. The noose is tightening.

Okay. I’ve had enough.
I am done dealing with childish attention-whore script kiddie crapflooders.
I’ve never done anything to you subhumans, yet you continue to attack and deface my website.
Today, you crossed the line. I can’t believe that you would think that it’s somehow okay to post kiddie porn in the comments on any website, but I am absolutely stunned that you are so devoid of any basic humanity that you would flood a post about my pet who is dying.
So I’m now officially putting out a bounty on your heads.
I am offering $1000 for information that leads to the arrest and successful prosecution of anyone involved in the crapflooding of this website.
Enough is enough. Stop this right now.

. . . and now The Balance to all the good news and joy that I’ve been floating in for the last few months:
My cat, Felix, who showed up in our garage about three years ago and never left, has kidney disease. We discovered it about a year ago, and he was in the very early stages of kidney failure. Our vet told us that it would significantly shorten his life, but if we gave him low-protein food and a subcutaneous IV every other day, we could slow the spread of the disease, and he’d probably be with us for another six years or so.
About a two weeks ago, Felix started acting strangely. He was more lethargic than normal, and he just didn’t want to eat (he hates the low-protein food), so we took him to the vet. She did blood work on him, and the lab said that his kidney failure is advancing much more rapidly than we thought. He could be in as much as 85% failure, and he’s in danger of developing anemia or a whole bunch of other scary diseases.
I took him back this morning, because the vet wants to keep him there with an IV for a few days, to flush out his little body. On Wednesday, we’re going to take him off the IV, and see if it’s flushed his body enough to toughen him up. Felix is a tough little guy, there’s no doubt about that. He’s so tough, we call him The Bear, because he’s feisty and affectionate . . . but if he can give you a chomp at any time, if you piss him off. You know how they say dogs have masters, but cats have staff? We are totally The Bear’s staff. He sticks around because he approves of us . . . and I like to think he loves us as much as we love him.
When I left the vet this morning, I was sobbing so violently, I had to pull over so I wasn’t a danger to myself and other drivers. I love my Felix bear so much, and I don’t want him to die. I’m not going to keep him alive with treatments if he’s suffering, just so I don’t have to say goodbye, but our vet told us that there’s a very good chance that he could bounce back after he gets out of the hospital, so I am doing my very best to focus on the positive chance for improvement, and remain hopeful.
It would mean a lot to me and my family if WWdN readers could spare a few moments and send some healing energy, or prayers, or magic monkey voodoo or whatever to The Bear while he’s trying to get better over the next few days.
Thanks. Hopefully, I’ll get back to normal blogging soon.
UPDATE: I just got back from the vet’s, where I was able to visit with The Bear for a few minutes.
He’s doing so much better, it’s a miracle. His eyes are bright, he purred like a Harley Davidson, and he had many things to say. most of them, I think, had to do with how much he doesn’t like the IV in his little paw.
I took his little fleece bed over to the vet, and she said that he can sleep in it, which is cool, because when he saw it, he jumped out of the tech’s arms and right into it. I could tell that he was happy to have something that smells like home, and his mom and dad.
Thank you, so much, to everyone who is keeping Felix in your thoughts and hearts. I know that the miracles of modern medicine have a lot to do with the improvement in his condition . . . but I also know that your thoughts are bending the space/time continuum to give him as good a chance as possible.