Forum:Ascend with original pet in tow?

Hi, my first attempt at posting here so hope I'm doing it right :)

I'm fairly new to this game and was wondering, is it realistically feasible to take your original pet right through the game to ascension, *without* polymorphing it into something tougher?

I get rather attached to my kitty (actually I have a bad habit of restarting anytime it gets killed) but if I read the spoilers right, they never get past xp level 9. Are there strategies for getting them past the level cap, or otherwise toughening them up to help get them through gehennom and the astral planes?

Any help would be much appreciated!