Commitment

This is Angel.  Angel is a 13 year old female (altered) domestic short haired cat we got in 2001. Ostensibly, she is my daughter's cat.  Just like the black one who is a year older than she is.  However, like most family pets, she's my cat.  I'm the one who takes care of her.

Angel was dumped when she was about 6 months old, and pregnant.  She was picked up by a Connecticut rescue group called "Protectors of the Animals."  She was the second cat I got through that group, and Meg picked her out.  She is gorgeous....and she has the softest fur of any adult cat I have ever felt.  A man "fostered" her until she had her kittens and then they placed the kittens and Angel.....then known as "Sunshine" as she has a "sun" on her shoulders....although Meg and I have always thought it looked more like a spider.

Angel is short.  She gives the appearance of being fat, but she weighs 9 pounds, right about where she should.  she has the nickname around here of "Princess Pudge."  She sort of rules the roost and is top kitty.  She's also a talker and if it weren't for her very round head, I would think she's part Siamese.....she certainly ISN'T the Egyptian Mau that they tried to pass her off as.

I had to take her to the vet again today....an every two week occurrence of late.  You see, back in January, I noticed that her eyes were dialated and she was walking into walls....a sign of a number of things which aren't too good for cats, and in Angel's case, she has high blood pressure and renal issues...but it is unclear if the renal issues are caused by the high blood pressure or vice versa.  We've been giving her blood pressure medication, just like humans use, in fact obtained at the human pharmacy ever since....and we've finally been able to get it into the normal range.  So now, rather than weekly, or every two weeks, we get to back it off to every 6 - 8 weeks that I have to take her in to have her blood pressure checked.

It's pretty amusing.  They have a Doppler that is hooked up to a little electrode which is placed on a shaved rear paw.  Then a little blood pressure cuff is wrapped around it and it is inflated.  You can see the little white "band aid" looking thingy which is the cuff, and the pressure do-hikey in the left hand of the tech.

I'm grateful for the reprieve.  Each time I went in to get her blood pressure checked, it is $40.  At this point, since my husband still h as no job after a year, my daughter is in college, and I am sucking down money left and right because of my chemo treatments (we have a $5,000 deductible) we're having a great deal of fun.

But....when you get an animal, you make a commitment to take care of it...just like it is a member of the family.  I've never had a pet with a chronic problem....so this is new for me....but I'm not going to let her stroke out because we have an issue at present.  I recognize that this may get a little difficult....but I firmly believe that if I had accepted this responsibility, we need to fulfill that commitment.

I never in a million years would have dreamed that we would be in this situation....I admit, I begin to wonder if it isn't partly discrimination against Hispanics...I have no idea.  But if you would have told me it would take more than 18 months for a mechanical engineer with 30 years experience in medical/aviation industry, who is bilingual, good at sourcing, fixing production issues, has three patents to his name, and is excellent at design and reverse engineering, and who developed a new product line and the production for a local company...I would have told you it was absurd.  Certainly being 52 doesn't help...by my oh my!