About Whisker Years

Biscuit is sixteen. She sleeps most of the day now, in the one square of afternoon sun that crosses the kitchen floor, and she still has firm opinions about exactly when dinner should arrive.

I’m Nora Bishop. I started Whisker Years the year her kidneys began to fail, when I kept finding myself awake at two in the morning reading the same veterinary pages over and over, trying to understand what the numbers on her bloodwork meant and what I was supposed to do about them.

Most of what I found was either too clinical to use or too vague to trust. What I actually wanted was plainer: what a condition is, what I could do at home tonight, and when it was time to call the vet. So I started keeping notes. This site is those notes, cleaned up for anyone else sitting where I sat.

How I write about your cat’s health

I am not a veterinarian. I’m someone who has spent a lot of hours reading, and who lives with an aging cat every day. That shapes how I write.

• Everything medical is sourced. When I say a symptom points to kidney disease or a thyroid problem, I link to where I got it: Cornell’s Feline Health Center, the IRIS kidney guidelines, a board-certified vet. If I can’t source a claim, it doesn’t go on the page.
• I tell you when I’m unsure. Ranges, the things vets still disagree about, and the times the honest answer is “ask your vet” all stay in.
• Money is disclosed. If a link earns a commission, you will see that said plainly at the top of the article. Nobody pays me to like their product.

What this can and can’t do

Nothing here replaces your own veterinarian, who can put hands on your cat and read the labs in context. What these pages can do is help you walk into that appointment knowing what to ask, and help you make the days in between a little softer.

Biscuit doesn’t know she’s the reason any of this exists. She knows the warm square on the floor, and dinner, and that I’m usually somewhere close by. The whisker years are quieter than the ones before them. In their own way, they have been some of the best.

You can reach me at hello@whiskeryears.com.