Slick and I are running a geriatric ward called Feline Foggies.

At the US division of Feline Foggies, Tubby gets his blood tested every 6 months. He's 18 1/2 now and he got his first blood test when he was 15. I had taken him in then first of all, just because he was 15 and it had been years since he'd been to the vet, so I took him in just for that reason. But he was throwing up a lot too, so I figured it's time for the old guy to go. They diagnosed him as being in the early stages of kidney failure and suggested I bring him back every 6 months for a check up blood test to keep monitoring his kidneys. So far so good, and I could probably skip it once or twice, but he still throws up a lot, which makes me worry, which makes me keep the 6 month appointments. They had been doing a "complete" work up on the blood, which cost over $200.00 every 6 months! But when I took Peanut to a different vet and her test cost less than $100.00, and it basically gave the same info, I finally questioned the vet on the "complete" work up. I mean really, they were testing him for FELV, etc every 6 months, even though he's an inside only cat! I told them that was ridiculous and I wasn't paying for that anymore, so they supposedly are now doing some sort of "modified" work up, which still monitors the kidney levels.

So anyway, not that you've got an entire book on Tubby's semi-annual visits........