Growing Old

Clover: "Growing old is not for sissies!"

"Nothing's more playful than a young cat, nor more grave than an old one." ~ Thomas Fuller

It isn't easy getting old. Somehow I thought that Clover never would. After all, she will only be 15 this July and my Siamese have always lived long lives. Her sister Chloe is spry and feisty still. But somewhere between the moves and all the mayhem.... Clover suddenly got old. She lost weight and became extremely wobbly in her gait. The vet found calcification of a couple of her vertebrae but nothing else. So now she gets to stay in my room with a soft heating pad and access to her food all the time. She eats well, but doesn't gain weight. She doesn't jump up on the bed or anything else for that matter now and getting up from a nap or laying down for one is a very slow process. We both take glucosamine/chondroitin supplements and it doesn't seem to help either of us! Now her eyesight is going as well. She stays close to my leg as I move around the room and uses her whiskers to feel her way at times. She demands more, more often and delights in keeping me awake at night, then snuggling down to sleep with her stuffed dog as soon as I get up.

But Clover still purrs, in fact she purrs more now than she ever did as a younger cat. So as long as she purrs and eats and keeps demanding.... I'll keep giving in to her whims, keep getting her Fancy Feast in her favorite flavor and keep gazing into those deep blue marble eyes.

Clover will be a late comer over at Friday's Ark this week but she's old and slow so they'll forgive her. If she has any energy left she will head out to the Carnival of the Cats, hosted by Mind of Mog.

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