Chatham Update

Cat Couch here:

Well, after a good birthday, Chatham has taken a rather sudden downward turn.

His arthritic back legs seem to have gotten much worse - it's as if his hips are now turning both legs to the right.

We knew that his eyesight wasn't great, but now he is bumping into things a good bit. I've watched to see if there was a pattern; are we moving things around too much? But Chatham bumps into things that are never moved.

And we're not sure where he is mentally. He doesn't respond to us like he used to. He walks in circles as if he's confused about where he wants to go; however, this may also be because with his bad eyesight he isn't sure where he is or that his especially bad left rear leg is pivoting him around (and I do mean pivoting, sometimes!).

He cries or meows - we're pretty sure that he's not in pain - and we can't figure out what it is that he wants. We go through all the usual desires: food, getting him to the litter box, cuddling in just the right way, etc. All without satisfying whatever it was that he wanted.

So, we're just not sure what's up with our old baby. We continue to try and make him as happy and comfortable as possible and hope that this is just a bad phase - he's had them before and then took a good upward turn in health.

These photos were taken the day before his 20th birthday at my church. I sponsored the flowers at the previous Sunday's service in honor of his birthday; I took him in to meet our minister and secretary (and to pick up items for the newsletter that I do for the church).