Willow Watch - Saturday

Thank you to everyone who passed on their good wishes.

Latest news is as good as can be expected. Willow has passed urine which means that she doesn't have total kidney failure (which would have meant it was all over) but what they don't know yet is whether the kidneys are actually removing the toxins from the system.

The blood test showed that her toxin levels are off the scale, and the scale goes up to about 46 (don't ask 46 what, I've no idea!). For there to be any sign that they are able to work normally this needs to drop down to being under 20. So they keep her on the drip and take another blood test on Monday. The bottom line is, if this number doesn't drop at all then her kidneys are not functioning as a filter at all and we will probably have to have her put down. We will get another progress report from the vet tomorrow.

What is nice to know is that she has perked up a little bit and has responded to having her face rubbed, which she wasn't yesterday. Incidentally, a big thumbs up for our local vets; our cats have had various serious illnesses over the years and the Foxcotte vets have always gone the extra mile to give the cats loving attention as well as medical treatment.

What has come out of this is that Willow has probably had dodgy kidneys all her life and this is just the crisis point. Certainly she has always been fairly quiet and drunk a lot of water.

Anyway, we should have another update tomorrow afternoon.

Birthdays

Many happy returns to cynthia1960!

Snoozing

Aside from cat-inspired worry, I'm mainly feeling sleepy today. Because of meal and travel times I didn't get more than about 4 hours sleep most nights I was in India. I slept for about 5 hours on the flight from Hyderabad to Frankfurt (which is unprecedented - I can almost never sleep on a plane) and I slept for about 9 hours last night.

So after all that lovely sleep last night I can barely keep my eyes open! But I'm determined not to fall asleep during the day otherwise I'll never adjust!

Lots of coffee, that's the answer!

Willow

Bad news I'm afraid. At 7:15 tonight Willow passed away.

We were called back to the Vets because she was showing no signs of improvement and was starting to get bloody diarrhoea.

We went up to see her and it was obvious that she was completely out of it, looking sad, just sitting in the litter tray, her head down and not taking any notice of the world. After 24 hours on the drip she was no better and it was obvious that she wasn't going to improve and so we tearfully gave the word. She was taken into another room and the drug injected and, as we stroked her, she peacefully passed away.

It was a tough call but the prognosis was never good and while she wasn't in any pain it was obvious that her body was completely breaking down. If we had tried to keep her going for any longer it would have been for our benefit, not hers.

So Willow, Occupier of Suitcases & Bags and Dread Guardian of the Tea Cozy, farewell.