Growing Old Together

I was watching one of my cats going down the stairs the other day, not quite as spry as she used to be. It looked like she was taking very deliberate, almost painful steps. There wasn't anything to indicate pain, but going so slowly it made it look like that to me.

The other cat, a couple years ago or 1½ years ago, was having a hard time climbing. I saw him trying to jump up on something (on their cat box) and he wasn't making it, or making it with difficulty.

But in a gradual recovery, he doesn't seem to have any trouble doing it now. So I don't know. Maybe he had a temporary problem back then.

Both the cats will be 15 in the middle of 2010.

The dog is officially 10 years old and a few months. But she doesn't appear to be slowing down any. But it's all just a matter of time.

Then there's me, us people. We're way older than them, but it's OK to be as old as we are and be human beings. We age Fahrenheit and they're Celsius, so we have lots of extra leeway.

It's interesting to age together. Any other pet, something happens to them. Hit by a car. Strangled somehow. Dies of worms. These three animals look like they're not going to pass on till old age tells them to.