Well, Dolan and I had our visit with Dr. Cindi on Tuesday. And it turns out that despite my husband waving away my suspicions, I was right. Dolan has lost two more pounds in less than a year, bringing him down to 11 pounds – too little for our Big Boy, who once tipped the scales at 16 pounds.

The good news is it isn’t cancer, as I feared.
The bad news is that it’s something no veterinarian can fix:
Advancing old age.

Dolan apparently has severe arthritis. The X-rays, which the vet let me see, showed bone spurs bridging three vertebrae. He also has some osteoporosis in his breastbone. Dr. Cindi was amazed Dolan still is able to jump up on the couch. But apparently, the arthritis is limiting his ability to squat in his litter box, which has caused some other issues with his urinary tract and colon. So now he gets to take a kitty laxative (oh joy) and arthritis medication like a lot of other senior citizens.

Oh, and the blood work came back today. It turns out Dolan also has a thyroid condition, as Dr. Cindi suspected. The signs were there. Not only was there weight loss, but he also was peeing and drinking overtime – things I realized because he’s an indoor cat, and I know his habits.

So add another pill to my boy’s daily regime. Oddly enough, I also am having my thyroid checked this week, have developed bone spurs in my left foot this year, and have osteoporosis. I guess Dolan and I can share a pillbox and age ungracefully together.

Dolan is a rescue, so I’ll never really know his age. We think he’s between 12 and 13, which Dr. Cindi says puts him at “upper middle age.” This is the first time I have watched my animal companion grow older, day by day, over many years and it’s not going to be easy. I think I blindly assumed that Dolan would live forever, or at least outlive me.

But at least I did something right. I know my cat’s basic habits, so I noticed they were changing. I check out his bod under all that fur on a regular basis, so I could tell he lost weight even without a scale. And I acted on it.

I hope this will give Dolan many more years with David and I. Because I know however much bonus time we get, it will never be enough.

Thanks to everyone who sent sweet notes of concern. See? Positive energy does work.