Natasha visited her new doctor for her annual checkup the other day.
We moved since her last checkup, so this is her first time seeing this
TED. During the entire trip there she let me know in no uncertain
terms how unhappy she was to be back in her carrier, but once we got
there she didn't make a sound. She even only offered token resistence
to getting out of the carrier in the exam room before going limp and
boneless (her version of the "sit-in" protest?)

TED says that she's doing very well for her age. She *is* starting to
develop cataracts in both eyes - there's a bit of cloudiness there. He
said that shouldn't bother her much for several years yet (the
implication being she'll probably die of old age before they get to be
a huge problem), and recommended leaving it for now. She's got a
little tartar buildup on her lower teeth on the side where she no
longer has upper teeth, but he's a bit leery of giving her a dental
(it's the anesthesia). So I'm trying something called "greenies",
which are a new to the (this) market cat treat that's supposed to help
with tartar removal. I gather there's been a version of it out for
years in a chew bone form for d*gs that's been quite successful.

As for her CRF, he did not do any tests, but was pleased to hear that
she was showing no outward signs of problems, eating and drinking
normally, and maintaining her weight (he said that if she was really
having kidney trouble, he'd expect her to be losing weight because
she'd be losing protein from her body). Basically, he, like her
previous TED, thinks that "when you're that age, nothing works as well
as it used to", and recommended no changes to what I've been doing
(which is just feeding her K/D)

I guess there are 3 shots cats routinely get around here, but he only
gave her the rabies shot (required by state law). He also told me that
there is growing evidence for both d*gs and cats that if the animal
has had the full course of shots as babies and young(er) adults, by
older adult life they appear to have built up some immunities to some
of the things that they are now routinely immunized against. I gather
there's a growing school of thought that it's just not necessary to
give all those shots to older animals - physically stressful to them
and perhaps just not necessary!

So all-in-all, not a bad report for my human-equivalent 93 year old
baby :)

Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

============
http://www.jhedge.com