— पञ्चसहस्राणि चतुःशतानि द्वानवतिः | —
I'm leaving work early this afternoon. Shobhit's coming to get me at 2:30, then taking me back home where we'll pick up Guru and take him to a vet appointment. This his not his annual checkup, which usually happens in the spring, when we take both him and Shanti.
Guru has been exhibiting a cough. It's not chronic per se, nor is it constant; he goes days without it happening. But, it does happen on at least two or three days a week. And, although this doesn't seem to be happening the past couple of days, his voice is weirdly hoarse when he meows.
Shobhit kept telling me we should "take him to the doctor," and I finally set a vet appointment for the soonest workable time I could find, which was after Halloween, the first week of November. But, I also emailed them to explain the issue and see if there was a pressing need to bring him in sooner. They suggested we bring him in this week if we can. I set an appointment for the soonest they had available—and City Cat Veterinary Clinic is only open Monday through Friday—which was at 3:30 today.
It's relevant to note that both Guru and Shanti are fifteen years old—sixteen and a half, if you want to get technical—which now makes them coming up on the longest-lasting pets I have ever had. (I had to put Batty down when he was 15.) They are very much considered "geriatric" animals now, although they continue to show no discernible difference in energy levels than they've ever had. Guru has been a frequent hairball hacker and puker, but there's really been no change to that. The only difference is this occasional cough that keeps happening, like a cold that won't go away.
I have no idea if there is anything to worry about (yet?), so I'm not bothering with worry. For now. Presumably the vet will be able to discern something when listening to his lungs or something.
There's no denying that both of these cats are far closer to the end of their lives now than they are to the beginning. This would be the case even if they both lived to be twenty, which is extremely unlikely. Shobhit isn't going to take it well. The thing is, right now at least, even with the occasional coughing, Guru doesn't show any signs of comfort or distress (except when he has a hairball, but that's been normal for ages). He doesn't seem to be sick, really. Something is going on though, and hopefully we can figure it out.
— पञ्चसहस्राणि चतुःशतानि द्वानवतिः | —
— पञ्चसहस्राणि चतुःशतानि द्वानवतिः | —
There's not a whole lot else to catch you up on. I walked home yesterday, in the rain, but without having taken my umbrella—very out of character for me. But, the high was in the low sixties and I had my hooded rain jacket, purchased exactly for days like this. So I wore that, and it worked fine. My face got slightly more wet than it would have under an umbrella, but on the upside I didn't have to hold anything over my head.
We had leftover eggplant with fried aloo parathas (from a frozen package) for dinner, and watched a couple episodes of season three of
The Righteous Gemstones. I'm still really enjoying it, but Shobhit decided he'd had enough for the day after two episodes. "It's losing its charm," he said. I don't really agree—incredibly bad wigs notwithstanding—but, whatever.
I spent the rest of the evening working on the 2024 calendars. They're coming along nicely. Somehow I kind of forget every year how many hours of work are involved with those things.
— पञ्चसहस्राणि चतुःशतानि द्वानवतिः | —
[posted 12:31 pm]
