On the mend

Two weeks ago today we had to take Avalanche to the emergency vet services. He had stopped eating and drinking, and was quite a sick little guy. The diagnosis is still kidney disease, and my daughter Red has been giving him an IV daily (150 cc). But it certainly has helped. My husband took Avalanche back to the vet on Thursday to take another blood and urine test to check on his numbers. We got the call on Friday that Avalanche's numbers are improving but we still need to continue the IV. We were told that as long as he seems to be improving we can slow down with the IV by giving him less (100 cc), but continue daily for at least another week or two. If he continues to improve even more we can cut back to 50 cc. We are hoping that eventually we can give him only 50 cc every other day. But that is definitely in the future.

It certainly is good to have Avalanche getting back to normal -- like his "obnoxious" greeting first thing in the morning. He has the habit of being a furry alarm clock by jumping up on the bed and starts licking my face. This is usually around 6 in the morning, and he and the other cats don't get fed until 7 a.m. But I won't complain. Those days when he was feeling so miserable and I didn't have him as my morning wake-up call, I wanted to have him back so badly. And when Red has been giving him his IV in the evenings, he's also making it difficult for her. He doesn't seem to cooperate like he did when he was really sick. Welcome back, Avalanche, to the good life. I love you!

Our four-footed family members

This is my son's dog, Redd. Any guess why he's named Redd? He's a pure-bred Siberian Husky, about 10yrs. old. He had some health problems just recently, but he's much better now, and much more playful, too, since he has been neutered.

This is Misty, my daughter's cat. She is as sweet as she looks. She loves to be petted, but wants no part of being held. She's only a "lap kitty" when she wants to be. Misty is one of three siblings posted here. Her brother is Avalanche, and her sister is Midnight. They are all 11 yrs old.

These two beautiful black kitties are Midnight (Misty's sister), my daughter's other cat and Tornado, my "baby." I call him my baby because he is the youngest of the cats at 8 yrs of age. Tornado is our "vocal" kitty. He's also the most playful and energetic - he's long and lean with a beautiful long tail.

And here is another shot of Midnight staring out my bedroom window. Note the bird in the window feeder. Midnight is our dedicated bird watcher. :)

This is Mick, short for McKinley, my son's other dog. She is a 7 yr old mixed husky - in Alaska they are called Alaskan Huskies when they are a mixed breed. Mick was born in Alaska, and my son acquired her when he was living near Fairbanks - back in 2000. Don't you love those beautiful blue eyes? As a matter of fact, out of the six pets this household has, three of them have blue eyes. When we had Kody we had 4 of them with blue eyes. Mick is another one with endless energy.

And here is our beloved Avalanche. My daughter and I share him. Heidi couldn't take all three cats with her when she moved to Kansas to get her bachelor's degree. She was only allowed two pets in her apartment, so she had to choose which cat got left behind for the two years she was gone. I had just recently acquired Tornado as a kitten from our local Humane Society, and he was a holy terror. He definitely did not get along with Misty and Midnight - or at least they did not want to tolerate him as a kitten. Funny how sweet Midnight and Tornado look together in the picture above.

Anyway, Avalanche was the only cat who tolerated Tornado. They got along really well. They loved to wrestle with each other - something the girls don't like to do. Avalanche and Tornado love to play together and sleep together. Avalanche is a very loving cat - he loves to cuddle. And in his younger years would fetch and retrieve. He can still do it, but doesn't do it as often. So, this is my four-footed family. Hope you like the pictures.