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Hang the bag as high as you can, and it’ll drip faster. The wheel on the tube is what starts and stops the fluid.

To put the needle under the skin, you pinch a piece of loose skin and hold it up, like a tent. Doing this is called tenting. Just behind the shoulders is a good place. You can also tent the skin on the flanks.

Be careful when you take the cap off the needle. When you tent the skin, hold your fingers at the top of the tent so that you don’t jab the needle into your fingers then either. Slide the needle in parallel to the animal’s body. If fluid comes out instead of going under the animal’s skin, you don’t have the needle in right.

The fluid will pool under the animal’s skin at first, bulging like a tumour until it spreads through the body.

I usually enjoy learning new things, but watching the veterinary assistant show me how to give my cat subcutaneous fluids, I found myself not wanting to learn. Or more accurately, not wanting to have to learn. It will now be routine to put a needle under my cat’s skin every day or every second day for the rest of his limited life. With his failing kidneys, liver, and thyroid, he needs this procedure as well as three types of medication.

He’s 16 years old. He’s had a good life. But neither of us is ready for this slow descent at the end.

He studies her, her eyes focused on the computer screen and her hand on the mouse. When the beige box draws her in, she hears nothing.

When he was younger, he was independent. He went for meandering walks by himself and visited with the neighbours. Now she doesn’t let him go out without her, and she doesn’t listen when he repeatedly, loudly tells her that he needs attention NOW. He waits and hopes — for a hug, a shoulder massage, or just sitting together.

Sometimes his insistence breaks through to her and her arms reach out to him. But not often enough when you’re old and you have nothing else to do.

A long time later, her hand moves off the mouse, the computer chair swivels, and she stands up. He saw the hand movement and is on his way to the kitchen even before she rises. She goes to the living room.

“Listen! I need you here now!” But she always wins. He stands in front of her and displays his annoyance with his eyes. He sits on the newspaper she was reading. She looks at him, strokes his face, and…he doesn’t want to yet, but…he purrs.

Do you have a photo of your cat, dog, rabbit, ferret, bird, hamster, or other pet? If you’re a pet owner, of course you do. And of course you want to enter it in a pet photo contest for a chance to win one of two monthly prizes. You can also enter the contest just by voting.

The prizes each month go to the person who submitted the photo that gets the most votes and to a random draw winner from the voters. Prizes are usually gift certificates for Odor Destroyer products although this month’s prizes are a little different.

Odor Destroyer products can be shipped within the US and Canada but not to other countries.

People who enter the contest or vote in it are subscribed to the Odor Destroyer Pet Newsletter. This monthly newsletter has articles about pet care and other pet information as well as a small section about their monthly sale. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter any time, but you probably don’t want to tell me if you do, since I write the articles and compile all the material for it.

And no, I don’t get any benefits from posting about the newsletter or the contest here. I just like to share.