Condition update

I blogged a while back about my cat, Denver, who has chronic kidney disease. We noticed that he had "the dwindles(1)" and was losing some weight. I made his annual checkup appointment, fearing that they would tell me his kidneys were worse. Could euthanasia be far away?

Of course, our burrowing cat (see photo) has stable kidney function. So what was the problem? Turns out he had developed hyperthyroidism, another common geriatric cat problem. We started medications and he is doing great. He has gained almost a pound in the month since his treatment began.

Of course, there is also humor in this turn of events. While I am a pediatric nephrologist, my husband is an endocrinologist. The cat has managed to develop medical issues dealing with both our specialties, just to show he doen't play favorites.

He will be celebrating World Kidney Day by using the litterbox and indulging in catnip.

(1)This is sophisticated medical terminology; do not attempt to use this wording outside of a professional setting...