Timmy Mau

This is Timmy, the oldest of my 15 cats. Timmy is 13 and was recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which, I've learned, is not uncommon in senior cats. The good news is, it's easy to treat with medication. Timmy's been on his meds for about a month now and has already started putting weight back on. He used to weigh about 13 pounds and was down to 8 pounds, but I can't see his ribs anymore so that's a good thing.

At first I thought the weight loss was just a natural result of aging, but it didn't make sense. Timmy was eating as much as ever and spitting up a lot, and he was more vocal than usual. Mau! Mau! Mau! all the time. Dr. Duel recognized the symptoms right away and tested him for thyroid. Thank goodness it was not something worse.

Timmy has been with me since he was about 10 months old. My daughter found him roaming the neighborhood and knew her friend had lost his brown tabby kitten, so she brought him and and called her friend Chris, who came over and said "that's not my cat." So we put a found ad in the paper and asked all the neighbors, to no avail.

When Timmy was younger and spryer (is that a word?), he used to leap from the kitchen counter onto your shoulders and ride around like that. He never used his claws but managed to have a perfect landing and hold on every time. Now he just hangs out in the kitchen, sleeping on the butcher block table or the metal cabinet where I keep the cat food. He sleeps a lot. But he has no problem jumping up, even at his advanced age.

Another quirk of Timmy's is that he has NEVER drunk water from a bowl--it has to come fresh from a faucet. He just sits in the sink and stares at me until I get up and turn the water on to the proper trickle for him. Talk about spoiled! I don't even want to think about how much money has literally gone down the drain because I turned the water on for Timmy's "dinky" and forgot about it until hours later when I came back into the room.

Timmy is still as beautiful as ever, though his eyes are a little glazed and I'm not sure he can see too well anymore. He goes back for a thyroid checkup in a couple weeks, and the vet will decide if we need to adjust his meds. But I'm happy he is doing so well.