![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimoreneI've mentioned before that one of the things that went wrong at the same time a year and a half ago was finding out the BB had kidney disease, or kidney failure technically. She had to be put on a special kind of food that was different from Snookums's diet and she had a scary spell at the beginning of the pandemic measures last March, so when I had to rush her to an unfamiliar vet for treatment they were just issuing warnings and not a lot of people were wearing masks or obeying distancing rules yet. That time was super scary, but she got subcutaneous fluids, some appetite stimulants and a couple of other medications, and actually started to feel better in a couple of days.
She did well on her diet, adjusted to it and ate well, and remained just as active and playful as before for the last year. Yesterday she was feeling a little queasy and asking for extra water, and actually refused food at night, but it was only because of our prior knowledge that we called for an urgent appointment. I had had today scheduled for work from home distance learning classes and I took her to the vet at 8 am on the bus. She was less upset on the bus than she was the last 2 times she went to the vet and generally it didn't seem that serious, so we were rather blindsided to be told there was nothing to be done. Blood tests came back extremely quickly and they said both kidneys had completely stopped. Apparently the reason it didn't seem serious was just that we caught it extraordinarily quickly, at the exact onset of symptoms, so that she hadn't actually been uncomfortable presumably until yesterday. So I had to call Wax who had to take a cab to Turku so we could both be there and then we took the bus back.
I think we're both as okay as can be expected, as the saying goes. Losing pets doesn't get easier, but I suppose you get to know what to expect, sort of - once you get past the shock, because I was more surprised this time than the last two (which were ~ten years ago). I expect Snookums will be affected as they were very attached and affectionate, but we haven't seen any particular signs.
§
Logically, since there's not only a slight increase in pandemic right now albeit mostly in Helsinki again, and also since we have no snow tires and are probably due for several weeks to a month before the melt, springtime would be the earliest it even might make sense to try to get another cat.
But my head has been pounding from all the crying most of the day in spite of painkillers and in midafternoon we tried to look around at cats briefly, if only for a ray of positivity that could maybe provide better mental distraction than random YouTube videos/reading with a headache. We are fairly firmly committed to Cornish Rexes only, and animal shelters aren't really much of a thing* in Finland, so this means looking at breeders/breeder orgs for "extra"/adult cats in need of a home (Snookums, BB, and Lily were all these - cats who couldn't be sold as full-price kittens/shown/bred often end up listed like this, in his and Lily's cases because of a harmless skeletal defect that meant they couldn't be bred, and in BB's she had been intended as the breeder's primary queen because she was physically perfect in every possible way but she got an infection and had to have her uterus removed and then she couldn't get along with the breeder's remaining queens). We kind of prefer adult cats to kittens and young adult cats are a good age. However, our glance around showed - for the first time this has happened in Wax's memory because Cornish rexes are incredibly popular in Finland - no adult Cornish rexes looking for homes in all of Finland, for once. And no Cornish rex litters currently listed! We looked at the entire Finnish registered cat breeder website then out of curiosity, and nope - there are almost no litters of any breed going right now, and the planned litters are thin on the ground too.
Of course, everyone's probably heard already about the puppy rush - the pandemic-caused home lockdowns led to an undersupply of puppies, particularly in Finland, that was already going on last spring when Wax's brother and SIL were looking for one (they got a roly-poly little dustbunny Havanese eventually but they waited like 6 months and she had to contact like 25 breeders). So in a sense it's not surprising this would happen with cats as well, but I would have expected it to be to a smaller extent perhaps? However, it's true cats can get coronavirus, so that's good cause for extra reticence on the part of breeders, and of course breeding typically involves travelling with at least one of the cats as well as multiple visits with each buyer, sometimes in both directions. When it's risking the cat as well as the person, perhaps it's even more offputting. There are still some people planning litters, though. We'll probably contact some of them in the next few days, since if it's a question of waiting lists you have to be early anyway. And it'll give me something to focus on, I guess.
I'm not going to try and avoid all mention of the BB for the immediate future or anything, but please be aware that I particularly may not be up to answering comments on the subject. IDEK what I'm gonna do tomorrow because I'm going to have to explain why I missed most of my day of distance learning but I hate crying in public (and so does Finnish society) but I don't know if I can even glancingly broach the subject without it.
* They do exist, just not in large numbers. Finland does not have the same sorts of pet overpopulation problems because historically, and still, the winters are too cold for ferals to survive in the wild. So cats and dogs are purebred to a larger extent, and mutts and farm dogs/cats without pedigrees are still typically sold, or applied for, even if in the case of accidental litters and barn cats and so on they may be free I guess. So the shelters are few, volunteer-staffed, not kill-oriented, visited by appointment only. Also, a potentially traumatized adult cat whose personality isn't well known probably isn't a thinkable housemate for two house rabbits. -
She did well on her diet, adjusted to it and ate well, and remained just as active and playful as before for the last year. Yesterday she was feeling a little queasy and asking for extra water, and actually refused food at night, but it was only because of our prior knowledge that we called for an urgent appointment. I had had today scheduled for work from home distance learning classes and I took her to the vet at 8 am on the bus. She was less upset on the bus than she was the last 2 times she went to the vet and generally it didn't seem that serious, so we were rather blindsided to be told there was nothing to be done. Blood tests came back extremely quickly and they said both kidneys had completely stopped. Apparently the reason it didn't seem serious was just that we caught it extraordinarily quickly, at the exact onset of symptoms, so that she hadn't actually been uncomfortable presumably until yesterday. So I had to call Wax who had to take a cab to Turku so we could both be there and then we took the bus back.
I think we're both as okay as can be expected, as the saying goes. Losing pets doesn't get easier, but I suppose you get to know what to expect, sort of - once you get past the shock, because I was more surprised this time than the last two (which were ~ten years ago). I expect Snookums will be affected as they were very attached and affectionate, but we haven't seen any particular signs.
§
Logically, since there's not only a slight increase in pandemic right now albeit mostly in Helsinki again, and also since we have no snow tires and are probably due for several weeks to a month before the melt, springtime would be the earliest it even might make sense to try to get another cat.
But my head has been pounding from all the crying most of the day in spite of painkillers and in midafternoon we tried to look around at cats briefly, if only for a ray of positivity that could maybe provide better mental distraction than random YouTube videos/reading with a headache. We are fairly firmly committed to Cornish Rexes only, and animal shelters aren't really much of a thing* in Finland, so this means looking at breeders/breeder orgs for "extra"/adult cats in need of a home (Snookums, BB, and Lily were all these - cats who couldn't be sold as full-price kittens/shown/bred often end up listed like this, in his and Lily's cases because of a harmless skeletal defect that meant they couldn't be bred, and in BB's she had been intended as the breeder's primary queen because she was physically perfect in every possible way but she got an infection and had to have her uterus removed and then she couldn't get along with the breeder's remaining queens). We kind of prefer adult cats to kittens and young adult cats are a good age. However, our glance around showed - for the first time this has happened in Wax's memory because Cornish rexes are incredibly popular in Finland - no adult Cornish rexes looking for homes in all of Finland, for once. And no Cornish rex litters currently listed! We looked at the entire Finnish registered cat breeder website then out of curiosity, and nope - there are almost no litters of any breed going right now, and the planned litters are thin on the ground too.
Of course, everyone's probably heard already about the puppy rush - the pandemic-caused home lockdowns led to an undersupply of puppies, particularly in Finland, that was already going on last spring when Wax's brother and SIL were looking for one (they got a roly-poly little dustbunny Havanese eventually but they waited like 6 months and she had to contact like 25 breeders). So in a sense it's not surprising this would happen with cats as well, but I would have expected it to be to a smaller extent perhaps? However, it's true cats can get coronavirus, so that's good cause for extra reticence on the part of breeders, and of course breeding typically involves travelling with at least one of the cats as well as multiple visits with each buyer, sometimes in both directions. When it's risking the cat as well as the person, perhaps it's even more offputting. There are still some people planning litters, though. We'll probably contact some of them in the next few days, since if it's a question of waiting lists you have to be early anyway. And it'll give me something to focus on, I guess.
I'm not going to try and avoid all mention of the BB for the immediate future or anything, but please be aware that I particularly may not be up to answering comments on the subject. IDEK what I'm gonna do tomorrow because I'm going to have to explain why I missed most of my day of distance learning but I hate crying in public (and so does Finnish society) but I don't know if I can even glancingly broach the subject without it.
* They do exist, just not in large numbers. Finland does not have the same sorts of pet overpopulation problems because historically, and still, the winters are too cold for ferals to survive in the wild. So cats and dogs are purebred to a larger extent, and mutts and farm dogs/cats without pedigrees are still typically sold, or applied for, even if in the case of accidental litters and barn cats and so on they may be free I guess. So the shelters are few, volunteer-staffed, not kill-oriented, visited by appointment only. Also, a potentially traumatized adult cat whose personality isn't well known probably isn't a thinkable housemate for two house rabbits. -
(no subject)
Date: 16 Feb 2021 08:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16 Feb 2021 09:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16 Feb 2021 09:15 pm (UTC)Good luck finding a new Rex, eventually!
(no subject)
Date: 16 Feb 2021 11:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17 Feb 2021 02:05 am (UTC)I hope you will find a new house mate who'll play well with everyone else. All the best of luck!
(no subject)
Date: 17 Feb 2021 04:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17 Feb 2021 07:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17 Feb 2021 12:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17 Feb 2021 02:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17 Feb 2021 03:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18 Feb 2021 11:24 pm (UTC)