Heavy hearts revisited

It's with heavy hearts that we bid farewell this past Friday to Emerson, our beloved 13
year old orange tabby cat due to kidney failure.
We learned in late summer that he had Feline CRF (chronic renal
failure) a fairly common progressive, ultimately fatal condition of
older cats. As the kidneys have tremendous reserve capacity, little to no signs of the disease appear until about 75% of kidney function is lost. As the kidneys have no ability to regenerate as do organs such as the liver, when there're gone they're gone. Under the direction of veterinarians Drs. Witter, Collins and Newman at Confederate Ridge Animal Hospital, we did manage, by diet, medication and aggressive fluid therapy to prolong his life about 6 months. Having lost our 13 year old Lab "Dewey" in October, it hasn't been a good run for the Lowery pets.

We got Emerson when he was little more than a tiny ball of orange fuzz. It's a wonder he made 1 year much less 13 as I thought about ringing his neck countless times ;o) Always into something, he fell in the toilet, out windows and he seemed to know (and enjoy) what pushed my buttons. Dubbed the "orange hand grenade" by my dad, it was indeed hilarious to watch them square off! A superb hunter, he earned his keep by keeping the mice population in check and it was common to find piles of feathers or assorted rodent body parts by the back door. Then there was his trick of bringing his (very much) alive catch in the house and turning it loose. I remember well the full grown Dove that managed to fill the house with blood and feathers as it flew room to room. We'll miss him greatly.