Old Age

 After I got back from Waldo, I noticed Teddy's eye was draining.  Not pus, but a reddish substance.   

He's only tame to me when I'm on my bed, so I began antibiotic ointment, scruffing him when he got close and getting it done.  I finally got a good look, when on my bed by using my phone camera.  At first I thought his eye was missing.  It's not, but it got punctured.  My guess is Tweetie whacked him

Tweetie is ancient like Teddy and is mostly deaf now.  If she gets startled, she whacks out first.  Wildly.  This photo is of the bad eye right after I'd put more antibiotic ointment in, that's the wetness you see.  I'll keep on with the antibiotic ointment as he seems to be rapidly improving with it.

Teddy is super old.   I didn't think Tweetie would last the summer and didn't shave her matted fur, fearful the stress of it would send her into cardiac arrest.   But she's still going strong, tough old gal that she is, so today is the day.

Old Blueberry is having diarrhea and I know with her its worms.  She seems particularly vulnerable.  Today I will also attempt to worm  her.

I've put wormer into the wet food where she eats but I never know if she gets a full dose.  So I've got to use some of my precious Profender on her today.

Fantasia and Tugs wander around making cries like a cat in heat.  Vet told me half a year ago Fantasia is likely in dementia, which fits with her symptoms. I had thought maybe she has a stroke.  But Tugs has been doing this ever since her best friend Slurpy died.  Tugs may be the oldest cat here outside of Tweetie and her sister Button.  Both Tweetie and Button are very wild. Button has warmed up to Chia, from the 7-11 colony.  They're always together, the young wild thing and the ancient one.

Gracie too is in last days.  

I'm happy these cats, Teddy, Tweetie, Tugs, Fantasia, Blueberry and Gracie, survived the summer but none of them are long for this world, they're so old.  I guess I should include Haley, the last of the nine in her colony who came here so long ago.  Rogue left us earlier in the summer.  And now there is only Haley left.   

Seven very old cats, all on their last legs, their last days with me.   But all have had very wonderful loved lives here.    Tugs daughter or sister, Mums, died some time ago, of sudden cardiac arrest.  Teddy's sister Starr has died.  Fantasia's mom and sister have both passed on.  Many of Gracie's colony mates are long gone too including Bluebell, Di Vinci and Vino.

The strange dynamics since Slurpy's death have amazed me.  She held it together for the other cats.  The matron, loved by all, the big kind lovable comforting torti.  She had been Miss Daisy's best friend, too.  She was adored by Tugs, Vino, Sam and Jenny.   Sam and Jenny have taken to coming on the bed now, at night, wanting on top or beside me, something they never did before.  And Tugs demeanor changed instantly to needing comfort from me.  

I seem to be losing older human friends at a rapid pace too, succombing to various ailments of age, one after another.   Some younger friends too.

I wonder about my neighbor.  She's many years younger than I am.  But riding with her can be terrifying.   I have passed this off  to me rarely being a passenger.  Two days ago she asked me to ride to Corvallis with her.  We are making a left turn on a green light at a major intersection but there's a man in the crosswalk.  I assume she seems him because how could one not.  Broad daylight, she's looking straight ahead, not distracted, but she keeps going until I yell at her.   She's only ten feet from him by then.  I was shocked. WTF is wrong, I thought, is she losing vision, concentration, how could such a thing happen.

One of these days it will be me dropping dead somewhere.  It's just the way it is.  I have a plan now worked out for any surviving cats, so I don't worry much about my own demise.  I just don't want to end up wasting away on my back in a nursing home.  What a horrible fate.  What destructive inhumane beliefs and practises we humans have for our elderly.