Update on Mr. Boots

Mr. Boots still has not been able to come home.? We ran his blood­work again last week, and when the results came back sev­eral of the num­bers indi­cat­ing ane­mia were even lower.? After dis­cussing it with Dr. Ray at CCR, Dana arranged to send Mr. Boots over there for an ultra­sound and x-​rays today so they could see if there is any under­ly­ing cause for the anemia.

When I went over this after­noon to check in on him, I stopped in to talk to Shan­non about any results that might be in.? She said they had def­i­nitely found cysts in his kid­neys, but didn’t know the size or extent.? That’s indica­tive of poly­cys­tic kid­ney dis­ease, which I now know (of course I came home and researched) is a con­gen­i­tal con­di­tion very com­mon in Per­sian and Persian-​related cats (like Himalayans).? Appar­ently approx­i­mately 37% of the breed devel­ops this con­di­tion.? It’s not cur­able, and treat­ment con­sists of pretty much the stan­dard treat­ment for any feline renal dis­ease.? They also did a uri­nal­y­sis, which they don’t yet have the results from, and I’m not sure what they are look­ing for there.

Dr. Ray is sup­posed to con­sult with a spe­cial­ist tomor­row, then will get back with Shan­non; Shan­non is going to give him my num­ber so he can call me and tell me just what is going on first-​hand.

Shan­non also said that if we talk it over and decide that we just can’t go through with adopt­ing him, she and every­one else would cer­tainly under­stand.? Maybe so, and my head says she has a point.? But my head’s not say­ing that very loudly, and my heart is prac­ti­cally shriek­ing “don’t lis­ten!!!”? I don’t think I can explain it with any logic, but I feel like this is meant to be — Mr. Boots is sup­posed to be part of my life, even if it may not be for that long. Back­ing out of mak­ing him part of our fam­ily is not a thought I can consider.