New readers can find the history of Polly’s illness in the February and December 2008 newsletters and an earlier blog entry. The last news was that the fistulae had returned. She went off to the vet to have them inspected and cleaned and returned home with a one month course of antibiotics. This worked well; the fistulae reduced substantially and her general health improved dramatically. And that’s how things continued for several months. I suppose it was early July when she began to decline. Just a little less desire to play with Val; slightly slower climbing the stairs. Then in mid August she began to lose her appetite – something that had never happened even at her lowest previous point. A trip to the vet verified our worst fears – Polly was seriously ill. Regular readers will know that some foreign object coursed through Polly when she was young spreading lesions throughout her body. The Vet School in Toulouse, when giving her a year to live in April 2008, had felt that her spine would be the bit to go first. However, the problem now is her kidneys. Our Vic Fezensac vet reckons she has about one quarter of a kidney working. The most serious result is the build up of urea in her blood. A normal level is between 0.15 & 0.53 grams per litre, 1.00 is serious, 2.00 is very serious. Polly is at 3.57. There are only two possible treatments – a diet rich in kidney-building nutrients and blood transfusions to dilute the urea levels. Polly started on Monday and seems a little improved. We will know more when she has her second transfusion on the 24th and her urea level has been re-measured.