Vashti, about five minutes ago
Vashti came home on Saturday afternoon, and has just been so, so happy to be here. We, of course, are spoiling her rotten to the very best of our ability. 
The good news is that Vashti doesn’t have any tumors in her belly. The bad news is that her kidneys are in worse shape than we thought, and her heart is starting to feel the strain as well. We’ve adjusted her medication and fluid dosages a bit, and are keeping our fingers crossed that this will keep her with us longer.
In the meantime, Vashti has been eating well and keeping her food down (yay!), and she’s been even more affectionate than usual. She’s demanding lots of petting and cuddling, which we are, naturally, more than thrilled to give her! We’re actually very pleased to see her so engaged and engaging, because she’s spent so much of her time over the past few months hiding in deep, dark corners of our apartment by herself. We know that she likes to be alone when she isn’t feeling well, so we’re viewing her suddenly increased desire to be social in the best possible light. I spent most of the weekend in bed with a book so Vashti could lie on my chest, which is why I didn’t post this update sooner–it’s tough to blog from a horizontal position.
Many thanks again to all of you for your thoughtful notes and comments. They keep me sane. Have a happy Monday!
Hooray for Vashti! Oh, Gwen, thatis good news that you were able to bring her home. And she just looks so happy in the latest picture. She really is your little miracle!
Thanks for the updates. I have you in my favorites on my computer at work and the first thing I look at after I read my email in the morning is your blog to see what’s going on with everyone’s favorite fur family!
Kisses to all and continued prayers for Vashti!
Wonderful news for this Monday morning!
YAY VASHTI!!! (And what a WONDERFUL excuse to loll about in bed, reading! MOL)
Smoochies to that PRETTY PRETTY girl and we’re still purring for you guys! (I love the pic BTW! That pink nose!)
Good to hear she’s back home and without tumors. Keeping our purrs going for her! Definitely enjoy these cuddling moments with her. She’s such a beauty and deserves every little bit right now.
What great news! I just finished “reading” your book on tape (I know – blasphemy) and I am so deeply in love with your brood now.
I hope that she continues to improve!
Hello Gwen, It is good to hear that your precious Vashti is back home
with her loving family. I know you will take the upmost best care of
your little girl. She is absolutely in safe and caring hands. Continued
good luck to Vashti that she tries to recover from this illness.
Good Luck and best wishes.
Gwen
I am so glad to see Vashti curled into a purrfect round ball at home.
She is indeed a ‘comeback kit’! I will hope that the medications help with her kidneys and that she remains stable and happy!
Such amazing news! Vashti really is a marvel. I am SO happy for you all that she is home and you have this time with her. She is such a beautiful and sweet looking cat in her pictures. Much love from TN. —Melanie, Sara, and our 7 felines.
Yay for Vashti and the entire family! Purrs to all!
That is just such great news. Will keep her in my prayers, and hope that she is with you for quite some time. Give her my love, and share some with Homer and Scarlett as well. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
That is wonderful news about the tumor. And with love
all around her and with her eating, that will help the other and keep her with you for longer. I had a cat, Cinammon
who had the kidney disease and she survived for almost
2 years. She would not eat the “special food”, so I just
let her have what she wanted and let her enjoy her
time. By the way, Vashti looks good lying there on the
bed. She is a beautiful girl. I was checking all weekend and
when you did not post anything I feared the worst, but
I am so happy that she is home and is with you.
I think a lot about you and your family and wish you
the best. I will say some more prayers. Give Vashti,
Homer and Scarlett a kiss for me. My 12 send their
love as well.
Karen
What wonderful news! Hopefully she keeps amazing us all for a long time to come! Give her lots of love from us!!!!
-Christina, Shadow, Raven, Isis, and Osiris
Good Morning, Gwen! It really is a good morning for all of you, I see. I am SO happy Vashti is home with you. She looks very good, too. I can just imagine how much love and attention she is getting.
Enjoy her!!
I lost both of my girls to CRF in the past year. They were sisters that we adopted from the shelter when they were 7 weeks old. Libby had lived with kidney failure for over 3 years and when she died she was 15. Her sister, Abba, had only been sick for less than a year when we lost her in June. She had made it to 16. They both got very thin and even lost the luster in their beautiful fur. Vashti looks so much healthier than our girls did during their last months. I bet she will be with you for quite some time yet.
Patty
Gwen:
I am so happy that Vashti is home and doing well. I’m glad she is surrounded by those that love her.
Glad to hear no tumor & that she is eating & comfortable. Spoil her rotten. Keep up the good work Energizer Kitty! Meirav & I are still in hospital, missing our Saki & Zorro lots. There isn’t much more comforting than a snuggling purring kitty…
That is FABULOUS news!! Who da cat? Vashti da cat! She looks like she’s feeling alright, probably just excited to be home with her family
I’m sure she appreciated your spending the day with her. I know my Pixiecat just needs to lay down with her mama from time to time. It’s good for the soul, mine and hers! Give Miss Vashti lots of love from me!
Vashti is an amazing cat! So glad she’s home and doing well! YAY Will keep her in my thoughts & prayers! Thanks for updating us!
Way to go Vashti! Keep up the good healing, girl!
I love reading things like this!
I can’t wait until Wednesday – my hubby gets out of the hospital!
Sending you and everyone else in the Lerman household our regards from the Clark family, including our purrballs!
Gwen, you and Laurence must be so thrilled that you were able to bring Vashti home. She is where she belongs with both of you and her brother and sister. Keep spoiling her and cherishing every moment she gives you. Vashti is one determined girl! Wonderful news and thank you for keeping us up to date.
Oh Gwen–this is wonderful! To have Vashti back home in a cuddly, purring mood, you know she feels good. May she be the energizer kitty for a long, long time. She’s so beautiful and a lucky girl to have you for a mom. Kisses from Heidi and Simba.
Happy for the good news!!!!!!! I have been w/o the internet for a few
days and I missed all the news about my NY cats. I will continue to send
all my prayers and good wishes for Vashti’s health. She is getting the
best care both at the vet’s and at home with her family. No cat could
have it better.
Most awesome news to start the week on…!
Happy Happy Happy Day! Glad you got a weekend in of some serious Vashti cuddling & loving. So incredibly happy that she is back home with you. Give that beautiful girl a nice scratch under her chin from me.
Peace
Yay, this is good news! I love seeing the photo; Vashti looks perky, happy and beautiful! I love that you girls are spending a lot of time together in horizontal love.
These are very special days and moments that will do your hearts good and will make great memories as well. Hugs and purrs from me and my gang.
Newt and I are so glad (he’s so glad he’s doing the full-on belly-up Newton stretch with his toes splayed) Vashti is home with her family, and that she’s eating and basking in the love! She is SUCH a pretty girl! Look at that great plume of a tail curled just so around her: she still knows how much the camera loves her too.
I echo what everyone else has said….SOOOO glad she’s back home and ‘feline’ a bit frisky!
XO
So glad Vashti is home. I thought about her all weekend. I can’t imagine life without my girls and I hope she continues to feel better. She knows how much Mom and Dad (and her siblings!) love her.
I’m sure Scarlett and Homer are happier now too! Casey and Maggie are both napping, purring away, which I’m sure means they send their best to all three of your cats.
I am so glad to hear that you have your girl back home! She is sure a fighter! =) It sounds like you two had good quality “girl” time over the weekend. I hope that she continues to feel better. Please know that you all continue to be in my thoughts. Maximouse and Gizmo send their love too! Enjoy every minute you have with your beautiful girl! Take Care and Be Well!
This is such wonderful news. I had such an awful day today and this just brought my spirits up tremendously!! She has so many people praying for her. I’m sure that has to be helping!!
Hi~
I am so happy Vashti is home with her family!
She is so beautiful -:)
hugs and love to your entire family~
Relief! I was thinking about Vashti all weekend, Vashti, you hang in there, Sweetheart. Everybody is pulling for you.
When you brought back beautiful Vashti from the vets, did her “siblings” give her the “you smell like the vets and we’re staying away from you so we don’t get brought there too” treatment? My cats do that to each other all the time.
It’s such a very good sign that Vashti seeks you out for attention. I’m sure most of us cat owners know what you’re going through…take it day by day. Each new day with our pets is truly a gift from above.
Dearest Gwen,
You are such a wonderful kitty mommy, Vashti, Homer, and Scarlett are blessed to have you. Our prayers are with you and your wonderful kitties. Kiss each of the for me.
Margot
Gwen I and my family are so happy Vashti is going home and has no tumors. This is such very good news to hear. It certainly is such bright news as compared to some of the storm damage we had in our area with many trees coming down and branches all over the place. We certainly will keep your family in our prayers as there is nothing more powerful than the power of prayer. Glad too to hear about your book being published in Scotland and I agree there should be a version in spanish. I think there will be it is too good a book for it not to be.
So VERY good to hear she is home where she belongs…Go Vashti Go Vashti
I did not know Homer’s Odyssey had been published in Scotland since my copy of the book came from Winter Park Public Library in Florida via Amazon and Homer reminds me so much of my Gilby (Good Little Boy – though sighted). I am just so happy that Vashti is home, being spoilted rotten and sure Scarlett and Homer will try to keep her company – as permitted!
That is just terrific news, Gwen! I am so happy for the li’l sweetheart! (And it must be a fantastic feeling for Mommy and Daddy…..!)
Gwen, I just finished reading “Homer’s Odyssey” just minutes ago. I was so worried about Homer toward the end that I cried. Then I cried again when Laurence brought the cats in to your wedding party, so to speak. Now I’ve cried yet again at reading about Vashti’s illness! I have two cats of my own, and they all touch our lives in different and delightfully unexpected ways! I will pray for Scarlett, Vashti and Homer every night when I pray for my own. I feel I know them from reading your book. You really did a great job portraying their personalities. I wish the best for you all! Now I’ve got to go dry the tears streaming down my face and hug my kitties!
Dear Gwen,
Like Claire, I just finished reading “Homer’s Odyssey”. I am an animal lover from way back and my husband and I have rescued over a dozen cats and volunteered at a TNR (Trap, Neuter and Release) shelter. With a TNR shelter those feral cats that could not adjust to domestication are neutered, released and spend the rest of their lives in a supervised colony with shelter, food, water and a loving caretaker. Needless to say, cat are a very big deal with us; in fact I met my husband because his new cat sat in the window and greeted me as I walked to our apartment building from the parking lot.
As all our cats were strays or feral, we could not deprive them of the outdoors so we bought our house primarily because it afforded them an opportunity to live indoors but indulge their passion for the outdoors safely. However, that does not mean that at 8:00 PM or 10:00 PM or 2:00 AM I haven’t walked my dirt street looking for my cats (OK and crying too!). Each time and everytime for fifteen years, all my babies were eventually home and accounted for many, many times but not until after many, many a very fervent prayer to St. Francis (the patron saint of vets and animals lovers). Now I’m what some would consider a “prodigal” child so I figured when they started hearing prayers up There from me they figured it was pretty serious and each time the wayward feline would come swaggering down our tiny street as though to say…’Why so worried, I’m a street cat and can take care of myself and where’s my snack!’.
That’s a little background on me and my husband. Flash forward to August 3rd when my husband and I were touring Portsmouth, NH on a mini holiday. We both LOVE second hand bookshops and went in to this really quaint, off-the-main-street second-hand book shop. I found two books I could not live without, “Dewey, The Library Cat” and “Homer’s Odyssey”. Until that moment I had never heard of either cats. How I wondered could I have missed these books?
About two hours after buying these books, I was rushing my husband to the nearest hospital with what appeared to be a heart attack. Like Homer, my husband has nine lives and and after a three day stay he is recovering well. In fact, his doctor said that his pain was a ‘warning’ not a real heart attack but a timely wake up call which will prolong his life.
I communited 160 miles each day to be with my husband and then return home to take care of our three remaining very old cats. I found inspiration in Homer’s story and your story too Gwen. I had hours to think about the triumphs and tragedies in both of your lives. The more I thought, the more I realized…I see lots of triumphs but where are the tragedies? I considered what was given to and what was taken from both of your lives and found the cup was always full. I found that I too would do well to see my cup full or at the least half full instead of half empty.
I do believe that ‘the powers that be’ work their magic in our lives…why else would I find Homer’s book exactly when I needed it the most? Thank you for writing your book; thank you for living your life as you have but most of all, thank you for ‘wrapping Homer up and taking him home’.
I’m still in touch with St. Francis even though my remaining cats Willow, Chessie and Tuxedo are so old that their wayward ways are just a memory. I will keep Vashti in my prayers to St. Francis and light a candle in her honor for comfort and peace.
Give Homer and Scarlett a hug for me.
Best of all things to you and those under your roof,
Jan
Gwen,
I haven’t been to the blog in some time and had no idea that Vashti had such troubles. I am terribly sorry. I am glad she is somewhat better now & hope you keep experiencing little miracles where she is concerned for as long as possible. May StarClan watch over her wherever she is.
Dear Gwen and Family….My deepest condolences on the loss of your beloved Vashti.Seems that our “Little Ones” are always leaving us way too soon… May all the beautiful memories of her bring you many smiles.