Posted on: October 4th, 2016 by Dr. Melissa Mustillo

This will surprise no one that all of us at A Cat Clinic want to help every cat we see. That is how we end up “adopting” a hospital cat: Jasmine several years ago, then our beloved and late Aurora, and most recently we kept Raven until she could find her wonderful forever home. Raven, by the way, is doing wonderfully! Her dad is fantastic, and they are very happy 🙂 She is delighted to be an only cat – she was not happy with feline company here at the clinic.

Our newest addition is Cleo. She is 18, skinny as can be, but she is happy and that is what counts. Cleo’s dad has been a long-time client, but at age 92, he struggles with his own medications and could not take care of Cleo. Her fur was a matted mess, and the skin of older cats is very thin so grooming is a challenge. Luckily, our technicians, Darcy and Vicki, shaved off the worst of the mats. This makes her look even smaller, but at least she is more comfortable. She may get a sweater for the winter, but so far her heated pet bed is keeping her comfortable and she loves lap time. Lab work showed that she was very hyperthyroid, probably part of why she’s so thin, so we immediately started her on medication. She also has significant kidney disease – not uncommon for an 18-year old cat, but this complicates thyroid treatment, since treating one can make the other problem worse. So, we don’t know how long she’ll be with us, but it’s nice to have this tiny little purr-box walking around, and we know she’ll receive wonderful care for however much time she has. I think “spoiling cats” is in our job description.