When mom passed away in October, I wasn’t sure how long Belle, her beloved companion cat, would make it. In 2017 Belle had a bout with Bobcat Fever and miraculously survived. Then, in the fall of 2017, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure. She’s gone from partially blind to completely blind, and I’d feared when mom passed that she wouldn’t be long for this world. In going through mom’s boxes I found Belle’s original adoption papers, and she’s roughly fifteen years old. Not bad for a cat; wonderful for one who has been through what she has in the past few years.
However in the past two months, she has thrived. Here she is in my lap as I work at home. Yes, it says “Queen Napsalot” on her tag, and she is the queen. (And she does nap a lot. LOL).
She may not be able to see, but she can hear me when I go to work in the front bedroom with its bay window that looks out into the north yard and woods. I turn on a fan when I work, and she knows as long as that fan is running I’ll be in that room. She curls up under the desk, just like she did when mom used the desk, and sleeps while I’m working. And when she hears me in the kitchen in the evenings, she’ll come out to the living room and even the kitchen to be with me. That’s a big step, considering she was rarely out of the room we now call “Belle’s Suite” even when mom was alive.
She gets a can of food in the morning, which she shares with “the boyz” not too willingly, but they let her get most of it. She has dry food out all the time, and in the evenings she gets her high blood pressure medicine (it’s so stressful being pampered royalty, don’t you know?) and a few soft treats. Meow Mix. Tuna please. The fishier the better. Then, at about 8 when I cook supper and turn off the lizard lights, she’ll get a small portion of sheba.
With the canned food (as she’s lost several teeth), she seems to have perked up and is holding her weight. She’ll whappy paw the boyz if they get in her face and she’s reasserting the fact that she is THE QUEEN and deserves all the things.
I know her time is shorter rather than longer with us. We’ve had many a geriatric cat. But right now, I’m thrilled with how Belle is doing and so happy that she’s adjusted to her new normal with her “sister” as her primary person (that’s me).
