Nick is now 18-1/2. His brother died in 2004 when he was 12 and I got both of them kittens, abandoned by their mother.
In 2006 I took him to the vet for a check up and they told me he needed a dental cleaning and possibly some testing for kidney function.
3 weeks ago I decided that since he was drinking a LOT of water I'd run him over to the vet. We scheduled a dental cleaning for a couple of days later but they told me his kidney functions were great, he showed no sign of hyperthyroidism and that everything was terrific. While there a large chunk of fur fell out of his neck.
Beginning the next day, his hair started falling out and by the weekend he didn't want to be picked up and had developed a large abscess on his butt. Saturday night the abscess (which was really the anal gland) ruptured and the following morning I took him to the vet who told me that surgery would be required to repair it. A week later the stitches were removed. Again the vet told me he was recovering wonderfully, but he's aged 10 years in the past 3 weeks. He's weak, has lost a LOT of weight, much of his hair has fallen out and the rear leg closest to that abcess has lost much of its strength.
It kills me to see him like this and I absolutely 100% regret taking him to the vet for that checkup. It's like he caught something while there. I know it was stressful for him but damn, I didn't expect all this shit to happen. So, I thought maybe you guys could pass along some good mojo for the old boy.
Many thanks.
This pic was taken a few years ago and is my favorite.
