The Latest--and Best--Update on Olivia

As you may or may not remember, I took to the vet this past Saturday for a six-month checkup. You also may or may not remember that I was nervous about the appointment, as I always am about such appointments, even when I expect them to go well.

It didn't help that things didn't get off to a great start: Olivia weighed in at 7.8 pounds, down 0.3 from her last checkup in March. This could have just been because she hadn't rocked it out on her dinner the evening before. In fact, just after I'd taken up her food for the night (she needs to fast for 12 hours before testing), the poor girl threw up what little she had eaten, then spent the rest of the night pestering me for more kibble that I could not put down for her.

The vet came into the room a few minutes later, and we chatted about how my girl was doing. "Overall? Great," I enthused. I really believed it, too. No brave face here. She regularly cleans her plate, plays with her toys (whether I'm there or not), does her business in the litter pan like a good kitty and, well, is pretty much a normal cat except for her regular medical treatment--fluids, injections, pills, yucky oral meds, dietary fiber, etc.

All of this pleased the vet, and she took Olivia off to draw blood. All in all, we were only there for about half an hour.

As soon as I walked back in the door of La Casa del Terror, I set out a plate of Friskies Gravy Sensations (turkey flavor) and let her have at it. And have at it she did--an hour later, she'd licked the plate clean. I immediately set down a second plate out, and she went right to work on that. My girl was hungry indeed.

I didn't hear back from anyone at the hospital until Tuesday morning. By then, I was home with the flu and trying to sleep as much as possible. One of the vet's assistants called to a) apologize for not calling me back Monday and b) to let me know that Olivia's blood test looked "good," though the vet was consulting with "an internist" to determine olivia's "treatment going forward."

Hmmm, I thought to myself. If her blood test looked "good," why did the vet need to consult someone else? Was there something in the results that needed further attention? Or was she, in fact, doing so well that we could cut back on some of her treatments.

Turns out, it was that second thing.

When the vet finally called me herself Wednesday morning (my second day home with the flu), it was all good news. Olivia's numbers were all safely within normal ranges, including her calcium, which had previously been elevated. Her conversation with the internist had resulted in recommendations to cut back on her fluids to every other day (she had been getting 100ml every morning) and to cut down on the hated aluminum hydroxide (something both of us are happy about).

To summarize: My kitty kicks ass.

That is all.