A subtext to the ongoing life saga around here, the last couple of weeks, has been the illness of our elderly cat, Pushkin. We know he has kidney issues, and has been picky about food for quite a while, but all of a sudden he pretty much stopped eating and drinking. I took him in to Dr. Gina Pastore at Winthrop Veterinary Services. Now that we have moved, it is only about 2 miles away. I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Pastore. She got her 5-year degree at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London, practiced small animal medicine in Vermont for 3 years, then moved here with her husband for job and family reasons.
She initially thought he might have a kidney infection, and started him on amoxycillin. His blood work came back with readings off the chart for kidney function. He did not really improve for a week and we had some really bad days. Then this week we had a followup appointment and she was able to get a urine sample, which turns out is loaded with bacteria. So he has a really bad urinary tract infection which was not susceptible to amoxycillin. They have to culture the bacteria in the lab and try different antibiotics against it before we will know what the final treatment will be, but meanwhile we have him on her best guess, and he does seem to be responding.
Eating and drinking water and showing a bit of interest in life around here again. So maybe we can pull him out of this and get a few more miles out of the old fella, after all. It reminded us both of the line from Monty Python & The Holy Grail: “I’m not quite dead yet!”
Rick and I have had cats for the last 40 years, and Pushkin is right up there with the best of them! So laid back, confident, and friendly. A true friend.
Pushkin in 2005
Twisp of Fate 
Hoping Pushkin is on the road to recovery!
Aww poor kitty, I hope she finds the right combo and gets him on the right track.
Awww, I’m so sorry. He’s such a special kitty.