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Where We Left Off:
Oliver and Gus led our research in bobcat behavior patterns.
Butler Brockovich:
This week’s mystery is not a fun one to solve. In the realm of Erin Brockovich, Oliver and Gus pose the question: What’s making everyone sick? By everyone—I do mean everyone here in this house. All of us have different ailments and it’s causing even more stress which tends to weaken immunity and can make a person even more sick.
I was going to keep this latest announcement to Instagram and Bsky, but this place here is about Ollie and Gus. News about them deserves to be here.
After the cats’ annual exams, Oliver was booked to go back for dental work. It ended up in him having two teeth extracted and needing to be on soft food for a week. However, while he was under anesthesia, the medical staff took a urine sample from his bladder. It took days to come back with results.
Oliver has chronic kidney disease.
It’s not a death sentence—hopefully. I’ve been through it before with my cat Milton. My cat, Binx, went a different route and had thyroid disease. Both of those conditions can be intertwined—the articles are confusing but it sounds like one can cause the other.
Ollie’s got a different medical team that I feel better about. His doctor was very honest. He said some cats deteriorate quickly while others can live for years. I only treated Milton with a prescription diet, which of course he hated. Gus is already on a prescription diet so having one for Oliver wouldn’t be any different unless their formulas are. There’s virtually no way to keep one from eating the other’s food. They eat at different times and in different rooms, but they are different kinds of eaters. Ollie will eat small bits often and has been able to train The Cook to feed him whenever he wants. Gus will eat large amounts and beg for treats and crunchies and people food all day and night.
We’re not there yet. The doctor said we should repeat the test in a month or two. If that’s indicative that he needs a prescription diet, we’ll do that.
If Oliver gets worse even with a special diet, the vet described that the process would be sub-Q fluids given at home which none of us have experience doing. We have no experience with injections. The Grumpy Old Man is (as they said in Bob’s Burgers) a needle weenie. I always thought that if it came down to it, I’d be an okay medic if I had the right education. Then I started cleaning carcasses (for fun and science!) and I’ve come incredibly close to vomiting many times. I became vegetarian because of studying the human body’s anatomy through illustrations, photos, and videos of corpses. Why did I think I’d be able to handle emergency medical situations?
What’s peculiar, bordering on scientifically interesting, is that Oliver and his favorite human have the same condition now. Hers doesn’t have any treatment—only regular monitoring.
Can We Look for Blame?
The Butler discovered that the EPA was actively investigating nearby. They reported that beginning in the 1950’s, a farmer with 100 acres allowed a Fabrics and Dyeing manufacturer to dump their toxic waste on those acres. The news states that it was 12,000 to 14,000 gallons per day of sludge for at least two decades!
“This pollution may be impacting the nearby Musconetcong River and may even have made its way into crops and livestock raised on the affected land.”—NJspotlightnews
“It was spread out all across the land, thinking it would be good as fertilizer, but it was not. It contained forever chemicals, which can cause birth defects and cancer. Those chemicals eventually seeped into the groundwater.”—News12NJ
Why any farmer thought those chemicals would be “good fertilizer” is indeed, a mystery. One that even Gus and Oliver can’t solve. That sludge contains what’s referred to as forever chemicals. These are called PFAS (among other types) and are used in everything in modern manufacturing of: non-stick cookware, pizza boxes, cosmetics, smartphones and stainproof upholstery and so much more. Everyone who has ever been tested for the presence of PFAS has tested positive.
“PFAS (Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances), also known as the Forever Chemicals, are a large chemical family of over 10,000 highly persistent chemicals that don’t occur in nature.” —ChemTrust
The families that have been affected by this well water pollution have been getting bottled water. The EPA and local private water supplier is also installing filters for them. The long-term goal is to hook them up to the public water system and cap the wells. People who never got a water bill and relied on water straight from the ground will now have an extra expense unless one of businesses responsible would agree to pay for that. It seems like they should.
While it is easy to look for someone to blame in order to direct anger, in the case of chronic kidney disease, there’s no culprit that’s easy to punch in the face. Oliver doesn’t have any of the underlying conditions listed on WebMD nor PetMD. He doesn’t have any symptoms. Having two bad teeth doesn’t exactly sound like severe dental disease.
He appears to drink and urinate a normal amount, but it’s not like we’ve been helicopter parenting him and measuring his water intake. There are bowls and cat fountains all over the house. He and Gus always have water even if they sit at a nearly empty bowl and pretend there aren’t seven other sources of water.
Case Findings:
This mystery will have to remain a mystery. We don’t know what caused Oliver to have kidney failure. He’s spoiled and kept indoors. He doesn’t even touch the ground like Gus. He’s got a funny personality with quirks like staring at a human until they get up so he can have that seat.
The best we can do is make him an appointment for another test to check if the levels of creatinine and BUN are stable or worse. If they’re worse, then it’s prescription food time (and in my experience, it’s not something cats want to eat).
Oliver will continue his routines of daily meditation and weekly yoga with his favorite human. He’ll have sparring sessions with Gus (usually when humans want to sleep). He’ll get catnip and treats and playtime. Soon, it’ll be warm enough for time on the observation deck where Oliver has long sessions studying the birds and talking to his best informants.
Case Status: Open and Sucks
Resources:
N/A. “Chronic Kidney Disease.” Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell Feline Health Center, Jan. 2025, www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/chronic-kidney-disease. Accessed February 14, 2025
Office of Environmental Quality. n.d. “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.” United States Department of State. https://www.state.gov/key-topics-office-of-environmental-quality-and-transboundary-issues/stockholm-convention-on-persistent-organic-pollutants/. Accessed February 15, 2025
More Details on the Pollution from NJspotlightnews:
It’s possible that EPA, with New Jersey’s support, could designate the area as a Superfund site. Such a move would allow federal resources to flow for cleanup beyond the emergency response phase. EPA said further environmental testing will be needed to determine if a Superfund designation is appropriate.
That includes soil and groundwater testing, as well as surface water testing of the Musconetcong River, which is the southern boundary of the current area of concern. The river, which is designated Wild and Scenic by the National Park Service, is one of the most popular fishing waters in New Jersey.