Thelma is approximately 16 years old now. She walks very slowly, has a limp in her back legs, has diabetes. Some family members and friends say she is "too old", the Lantus insulin is "too expensive", she might be better off "put to sleep." But I see the Thelly kitty who still looks at me with love in her gorgeous green eyes, who still has all her functions, loves to take slow strolls through the apartment, sniffing and face marking things as she goes. She comes to the bedroom door and asks to be put up on the bed, and stays a few hours until she uses her homemade climbing system to get down and return to her beloved bed in the living room. She patiently accepts her morning and afternoon injections. She loves her morning and evening wet food and snacks on grain free crunchies. She and my young kitty Sweetpea tolerate one another. I see Thelma when she leaves her bed and looks for patches of bright sunshine to lay in. I tell the doubters that she is in hospice here with me, and it's basically true. My wonderful vet and his staff support me in whatever decisions I make, are willing to let her live out her life as long as she is comfortable and not in pain. Taking care of her is a spiritually enhancing gift from God, I believe. It takes patience, love, concern, observation and care. I like to hope that taking care of Thelma makes me better able to care for all other beings too.
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