Happy Fourth of July and Happy Summer to Zencada’s wonderful sponsors!

It is I, Beth, your faithful correspondent, and I return to you, post-solstice, with news of our favorite little tortie. REAL TALK: We’re worried, friends.

You may recall that during last month’s update, Stephanie shared with you some important medical news about Zencada — specifically that Zen had started having mini-seizures and that we would be following up with a veterinary neurologist. Well, during her neurology consult, testing revealed that her heart and her kidneys are, sadly, not in great shape. Although her heart now seems stable and doesn’t require medication at this time, we’re concerned that her cardiac disease developed so quickly. The same is true for Zen’s kidneys. Two months ago, her kidney values were normal; now they aren’t, and furthermore she is anemic (likely due to kidney disease).

We’ve started her on medication for the anemia, and we’ve already followed up with an abdominal ultrasound to get a better look at her kidneys. Happily, the ultrasound revealed nothing more than normal aging kidneys and a slight enlargement of a few abdominal lymph nodes. The latter is likely an inflammatory/reactive issue — no cause for grave concern. However, we will repeat the ultrasound in two months, just to be sure.

Additionally, Zen’s blood glucose has been running a bit lower, which can indicate a diabetic who isn’t feeling well, so we’ve lowered her insulin dose. In brighter news, Zen hasn’t had any additional neurological episodes, and she is still clearly enjoying life a great deal.

Whew. This is a lot of information to take in, friends. And believe me: I’m whole-heartedly sharing in your anxiety right now. We love Zencada so much, and this is a whole lotta’ scary medical stuff to process. But as far as I can see, there are two silver linings here. The first is that Tabby’s Place is THE place you want to be if you are a kitty in need of medical expertise; Zencada means the world to us, and we are taking the best possible care of her. The second silver lining is YOU — wonderful, amazing you. It is through your love and generous support that we are able to provide Zen with everything she needs, medical or otherwise. If you didn’t have our back, we couldn’t have hers. And so, from the bottom of all our hearts, THANK YOU for everything you do for our wonderful little girl.

I promise to keep you updated, and Zen promises to to stay strong and positive. We’ll talk again soon, friends.

#TeamZen #TortieStrong