Max came into our life from the SPCA the same year Kiddo was born. As a rescue, they estimated his age as 1 year to 18 months. We picked him because he was shaking at the back of the cage; he looked like the cat who most needed us.
When we got him home, he ran into the kitchen and wedged himself, ass-first into the space between the garbage bin and the cupboard. He and our other cat, Sierra did not get along. Truthfully Sierra hated almost every living thing so that was no big surprise. She tormented him for years, until she died (cancer, that totally snuck up on us, man did that suck) — and in her last hours, Max donated his blood (not that we gave him a choice).
After we lost her, Max took up the role as lead cat. It took us a couple of years before we were ready to get another cat, when we found Minnie, another rescue from the pound. Max tried so hard to be her friend at first but she is such a loner — and after she was “edited” she became almost a ghost in the house, hiding from all but Kiddo. Gradually she started coming out more and more and I noticed she often hopped up to Max to be groomed. Now and then I have caught them curled up together.
Tonight she is searching. She can’t find him and doesn’t know why. It’s the same thing Max did when Sierra didn’t come home.
A couple of years ago, Max was diagnosed with a thyroid problem and he’s been on pills, twice a day, to help manage. Weirdly, I was diagnosed with thyroid problems very soon thereafter, but mine were the opposite of his. We adjusted his diet, adding a powder supplement to help combat arthritis and a liquid supplement of Omega-3. As he has aged, we have noticed him sneezing lots, and having more trouble getting around. He was also starting to answer us less often and seemed to be losing his senses (sight/smell/hearing) in general, but all of these seemed like average issues of aging, especially as he was eating, drinking, and voiding just fine. Or so we believed. We can never be 100% certain of litter box use because of two cats, but he was in and out of there frequently enough that it seemed normal.
Today was the first morning in a long time that I didn’t wake up to hear him yowl for a morning meal. He seemed extra lethargic and Shawn said he’d been dry-heaving. I went out for a while and came home to find him sitting in the middle of the living room floor. I explained to Kiddo that we were worried and watching him.
A little while later, he had another dry-heave incident and we decided we would take him to the hospital. He’s there now, with what looks like kidney failure. They are doing what they can to pull him out, and we will see what the prognosis is after 48 hours. I feel like hell right now. I feel like we “should have” done more or done something sooner. Maybe even this morning would have helped. But hindsight is always clearer, right?
Max, please pull through. I promise not to complain when you ask for breakfast before I’ve had my coffee.
EDIT: Some of you have asked if you can help with Max’s vet costs so for that, I’ve added a link to our PayPal account, below. Thank you.