In which we are all on borrowed time, and Puzzle stays another day

This time yesterday afternoon, I fully expected to

write an obituary for Puzzle today.

I'm happy to report that the obit isn't needed...yet.  Yes, he is on borrowed time. 

We are ALL on borrowed time.
But if the purple blanket is available, it's also NAPTIME

About a month ago, there was Something Wrong with Puzzle.  He was eating constantly, but losing weight.  He puked a lot, he was in the sandbox all the time.  No fun for the cat!

Patty came out to the Farm (in her capacity of Veterinarian, although I do recall tea and scones being served, because a visit from Patty is always an excuse for a party) and pulled blood from the cat.

RESULTS (texted to me early the next day):  the kitty's thyroid level was WAY TOO HIGH.

Meds were ordered and administered.  Two weeks later, I sent Patty this video to show her the kitty's recovery:




I gotta admit that the cost of the meds is kinda high:  about $50 / month.  I would not necessarily spring for that much ongoing cost...but Puzzle is a special cat.

2010: Puzzle uses the ladder

With the cat feeling much better, we went ahead with Thanksgiving last week.  Puzzle was in the middle of everything.

"Set the table" iz sayme as "Sit on the table"...right?

He clowned and played, and tried swiping food right off of plates, to the delight of our guests.

And then

ominous music

Puzzle stopped eating on Tuesday.

Wednesday I took a day off from work so Patty could come see him and pull more blood.  He looked bad.

Thursday, the blood work results came back, frustratingly non-conclusive.  For a cat to look that bad with nothing obvious on the blood work...well, it's not good.  Some kind of intestinal cancer, most likely.  I left work early to pick up some last-ditch meds and see if the cat could be convinced to return from near-death again.

My hopes were pretty non-existent.

I gave him the meds ("triple-fish flavor" according to the kindly pharmacist who compounded them for us), and sat in my chair with him on my head for what, I was pretty sure, was close to the final time.

We watched "The Blues Brothers" on my computer together.  About 30 minutes into the movie, at the spot where John Belushi gets heavenly inspiration from the singing and preaching of James Brown , Puzzle stood up and stretched, and meowed at me to stand up and feed him.

He didn't eat the entire can of tuna, but he had some.  

He's not out of the woods yet.  He might rally and live happily for another year, or he might fall back and be done with the mortal coil tomorrow.

But right now he's sitting on my head again, watching me type this.

I'll take it.