Well, time for yearly shots/health status update.  Meep is so good at
the vet!  As long as she has an armpit to hide in, she's fine.  Today,
she even took her head out of my armpit and rested it on my arm, and
laid there the whole time I spoke with the vet.

Pretty much, the verdict is:  I'm doing everything I should to keep her
healthy, though more drugs/treatment are on the horizon.

Teeth:  Good, just a bit of tartar.  She likes her Greenies, so keep
those up.

Cystitis:  Probably uncomfortable, so good that I'm trying to get her
off wet altogether.  Wish she'd cooperate better though.  I asked about
the thinning hair on her belly, vet says it's clear it's thin 'cause
she's licking it, but not licking enough to cause injury.  We agreed
it's because of the cystitis but not serious enough to change her
management - yet.  Hopefully the dietary changes are helping.  I was
thinking the thin area looks a bit smaller today.

Luxating patellas:  She's been seeming a little more uncomfortable in
her hind legs lately, vet bets there's arthritic changes now.  She
expects things will get better as it warms up (we're down under).
Again, not bad enough to change anything - yet.

Heart:  Grade 2 murmur now, pretty clear.  Vet says the murmur getting
worse will be an indicator that the cardiomyopathy's getting worse, but
it was still a Grade 2 on her last visit so still stable.  Probably time
for me to get a stethoscope, so I can monitor this without subjecting
her to the stress of a vet visit.

If the cystitis or leg problems get worse, she'll need to start taking
non-steroid anti-noninflammatory drugs.  She wants to put that off for
as long as possible though, because these are hard on the kidneys and
other organs.  She wants me to just keep doing what I'm doing, which is
giving her a daily dose of glucosamine (I'm going to up the dosage for a
while and see if it helps), and trying harder to get her on a 100%
canned/wet diet.

Poor kitty!  Fortunately, though there's a number of issues to watch
for, most of them have been lifelong and are stable, and don't affect
her quality of life significantly.

Another funny quirk of her purrsonality is that vet visits make her
hungry.  I can hear her now, finishing off her dinner - Good Girl!

jmc