Nine Lives?

I may have to re-think the narrative that my cat is dying. Maybe she's just using up one of her nine lives.

Less than two weeks ago I was about ready to have her put down. Since then she has walked away from death's door and shown much improvement.

Katya's latest weigh-in showed that she hasn't lost any weight in the past two weeks. She's still hovering at four and a half pounds, but she's stopped her rapid decline to nothingness. That's the first time since this whole crisis began that she's maintained her weight for any period of time.

Since her abscessed tooth cleared up she's been a much more functional pet. She's eating more or less regularly and her behavior is as sweet as it's ever been. She talks. She walks. She sleeps. She eats. She cuddles. She loves.

Although she's eating, I can't get her to eat any cat food. The only things she'll eat are canned tuna, turkey lunch meat cut into small squares, and meat off of my plate, such as de-breaded chicken from a Chinese Sweet & Sour dish or sausage off a pizza. (I don't usually feed her this kind of stuff, but at this point I'll feed her anything she shows an interest in.)

The vet told me that I have one of the greatest challenges facing any pet owner: trying to feed a sick old cat when there's another cat in the house who will swoop in and eat anything I put out.

Here is what the corner of my kitchen has looked like for the past two months:

This doesn't really give the whole picture, so let me arrange it in a group portrait:

These are the different foods I've tried to throw at Katya to get her to gain weight. Included in the portrait are Whisker Lickins, 9 Lives wet, Fancy Feast wet, turkey lunch meat, Paws wet, Meow Mix Market Select,Whiskas pouches, baby food, tuna cans, and Fancy Feast dry. Once there's some resolution with Katya, I will probably donate most of this food to the pet shelter.

Despite all my efforts, she has lost weight dramatically. That is, until the last two weeks. (Hermione, meanwhile, has been ballooning up thanks to all the new food.)

We still don't know what caused the weight loss to begin with, but at least her will to live has returned.

And while I'm posting pictures of my kitchen, here's the current state of my beer bottle collection:

Wow, I can't believe how much it's grown since September.


But I had a good excuse: My cat was dying.

Maybe.