I have a very old cat

So I have one pet. a cat, named Happy. He is named after the dwarf (my favorite) in Snow White and certainly not his mood. He recently turned 17 years old which in cat years puts him somewhere in his 80s. I personally got happy when he was about 6 months old when I was around 6 years old from a family friend. Happy is probably one of the best and most consistent things in my life transitioning with me from grade school to moving out after college. He is getting old though and we have had to make some changes for how we care for him.

Firstly and probably the most drastic change has been his food. In his sixteenth year we were having a lot of problems with his digestion and a puking problem. We have switched him to wet food, like a baby kitten. When we have to go away for a weekend or something we use grain-free dry food. It ha significantly reduced the times of cat vomit down to 0-1 times a week.

Secondly, Happy’s engagement or stimulation wahtever you want to call it has been harder. Mostly because he no longer finds chinese yoyo’s interesting and doesn’t fall for the laser pointer and can see who is holding the string. So most of his “toys” these days are hairbands. Which he LOVES! I cannot understate this he flings them and chases them all over our apartment and drowns them in his water. If you have any further ideas for stimulation for him please let me know.

Lastly, he’s become a real cuddle bug and more needy than before. He is always wanting laptime, more than just I am doing something else and wants attention but yells at me and my partner to sit down so he can sit. He lays behind me while I do the dishes. Happy actually sits either on the bathmat or in the linen closet while we are in the shower.

Mostly, though he is the same sweet, arrogant, little lion that I have loved for 70% of my life. Which makes it harder to admit how old he has gotten, as whenever I do people think he’s sickly or dying. For the moment, that is untrue but given his age and slight heart murmur there is nothing to stop that from being a day away. So anyway I have a really old cat for right now we are doing things that make it okay. Hopefully we can keep it up.