WW, week 13

Lots of catching up to do in the journal...

I expected another week of not-so-good results, given the weekend at the con (even though I tried to stick with the diet, and did keep my food journal the whole time). I went in on Tuesday after work, 8 days from my last weigh-in...and I was down 1.8 pounds, for a total loss of 20.6. Evening out for the week before, I guess, and not much affected by any sins committed at the con.

This Tuesday meeting had yet another leader (the one I attended on Monday had been a different leader from my usual one). I was at first taken aback by her style, but by the end of the meeting had decided I like it better than leader for the Sunday meeting. Somewhat brusque, but she ran a very efficient meeting, kept things on topic, had what was obviously a regular (and useful) review of last week's topic, and seemed to know more of the people who were there than my regular leader manages. I may call and see when her meetings are, and switch to one if the times will work out.

Health woes for Agatha the cat

I've been worried about Agatha--she seemed to be drinking a lot, leaving the kitchen water bowl dry several times when I wasn't watching. (There's another bowl in the bathroom, so she never ran out completely.) And then over the last couple of weeks I've noticed how wet the litter box was. Several years ago, she was on steroids for quite a while to treat an overgrooming problem, and the vet had warned me of the possibility of feline diabetes--mentioning flooding the litter box as the primary symptom. So, I made the appointment fully expecting that she might have diabetes. Recent discussions on piffle of the difficulties of getting a cat stabilized had me worried, plus all the attendent thoughts of "how can my cat-sitters cope with this when I have to travel?" Nothing like crossing the bridge well before you come to it.

Turns out she has "renal tubular disease", not diabetes. Her kidneys still filter the wastes out, but the parts that should then concentrate the urine aren't working any more. Almost all the liquid that comes in, goes out. And she has to keep drinking to stay hydrated, as she isn't re-absorbing fluid in the kidneys any more. The vet says she can just live with this, at her age (she's 12)--all I have to do is make sure she doesn't ever run out of water. And change the litter box more frequently, I assume. I didn't think to ask if there is any treatment, period.