gistfile1.txt

So when our first cat Rusty died, I spent a lot of time trying to decide
if we should get another cat. After all, Pluto had spent a lot of time bullying
Rusty. Rusty was never quite the same -- anxious all the time and got chased
almost every single day by him.

But I liked having two cats around because that was the default in the household
since 2001. So after about 5 months I felt it was time to introduce another
cat into the household. I picked out a really sweet female Tortiseshell cat
and brought her home.

Her and Pluto are not really getting along that well. 2-1/2 months later there
is this uncomfortable stalemate position. Pluto can't come into my office to
see my because Lily won't let him and Pluto won't let Lily come into the 
bedroom where he sleeps with us.

Because Lily eats way too much (she is on a diet now) we can't leave Pluto's
food out for him to graze like he is used to -- Lily will steal it all. So we
had to switch him from dry food to wet food in the hopes he would eat more
of the wet food in the morning. It's not working -- some days he gobbled the
food down and others he'd eat just a tiny bit and then go chill somewhere.

I work downstairs and can't keep track of every time he comes downstairs so I
am pretty sure he's not eating enough. So he's on different food, can't eat the
way he used to, and has another cat randomly hassling him.

So now he's severely constipated, not eating well and is showing very early
signs of kidney disease (which is what killed Rusty) but that might just because
he is not eating well. His blood work showed that the optimal value for kidney
disease is 14 and his is 15. Might be nothing, might be the beginning of the
end.

On top of it, he has bad teeth that have needed to be fixed but the last time
they tried it his heart rate while sedated hugely spiked. Now he has two
fractured incisors. They have to be removed. Nobody has any idea what to do
about it yet.

I can't help but feel that adding the other cat is what is causing Pluto so
much distress. I feel so selfish and can't do anything while he sits around
the house suffering while we try to get him pooping again.