Hoh Hoh Hoh Hoh

Aside from the fosters, I have three cats of my own.  Tigger is the Boyfriend's cat who was here when I moved in.  Junior is the kitten we rescued from 'the wild' when we first started dating and is very much not a kitten anymore.  And then there's Fat Bill.

Nice hat.

Fat Bill (or as she was known at the time, Billie) was born under my bed about fifteen years ago.  In other words, we have history.  As her name implies, Fat Bill is not exactly svelte.  As such, we were rather concerned about her chances for diabetes when we took her in for her annual wellness vet visit.

This was the first time our current vet had ever seen Fat Bill and she created her usual lasting first impression.

The tech while pulling Fat Bill out of the carrier: "She just keeps coming and coming.  A never ending cat."

When I remarked that she was quite the fat ass: "Well, her head and feet aren't that fat."

On reading her name on the chart: "We're rather literal, aren't we?"

Catching up on the records from our last vet: "Looks like she's lost 3/4 of a pound.  Congratulations."

While feeling her temporal muscles: "Well, you see this in older cats, where they lose muscle mass.  They just kind off waste away.  Not that she's exactly wasting away."

Trying to feel for her bladder and kidneys: "If I could just get in there.... It's like trying to palpate through jello."

With a certain note of exasperation: "What do you feed her?"

Because I can't remember when the last time we did any kind of blood work on her and because we were concerned about the diabetes we did a full work up.  The vet called yesterday with the results.

Vet:  Well the good news is that her glucose levels are normal.
Me:  (happy dance!) That is good news!
Vet:  There is an issue with her thyroid.
Me:  (No wonder she's so fat.)  Oh?
Vet:  Now, clinically she presents normally.  But according to her work up she has hyperthyroidism.
Me:  That... is not what I expected.
Vet:  Neither did I.

There is an undeniable resemblance.

The good news is that we have a real shot at treating this medically (as opposed to surgically) and Fat Bill can live for quite a while longer sleeping inconveniently on my knitting and keeping me awake by loudly chewing on her belly.

I just love this yarn so much.