A Time to Cry in Packrat
- April 6, 2015, 3:41 p.m.
- |
- Public
My cat has cancer. Not being able to use one of my hands, I haven’t picked her up and cradled her for about two and a half months and finally did last week - only to find growths on her stomach. She has been normal, eating well, jumping, eliminating, so I didn’t know anything was wrong. Before the bite, I could hold her and her stomach was fine.
I found the growths after 10 p.m. I took her to my vet first thing in the morning, but the receptionist said I hadn’t made an appointment!!! The vet was out on a farm call. I took her to the neighboring town’s vet, whose receptionist was much kinder and soothing but who himself was out on a farm call. Since my cat was acting so normal, the receptionist said, her situation was likely not dire, and I could bring her back.
On my way to take her home, I couldn’t give up on taking her to a doctor and didn’t want to wait, so I called the vet of the town I work in. The receptionist there said they were swamped, but I was crying so hard by then she worked me in.
The vet felt around and said the cancer had already spread throughout her body, that it was very aggressive if her stomach was fine just three months ago. He gave her two shots, saying they may or may not help with reducing the growths, which are ugly but not causing her any pain. During her examination she lay quietly and purred - so much that he couldn’t listen to her heart.
The shots helped in that she is like her old self and lively and curious; she gained weight and slowed down after being fixed, and now it seems like she’s back. I’ll bring her to work with me tomorrow, so she can get another shot (one lasts a month, the other a week).
I hate to lose her like this. She’s so sweet natured and nurturing to all the other cats. The dogs got a hold of her when she was a feral kitten and ripped her leg open; I thought she was going to die. I set her by her mother, who wandered away, and she tried to follow her, so I brought her into the house for a chance to live and nursed her back to health. She’s 12 years old now.
The vet told me not to beat myself up over missing any symptoms, as there was really nothing I could catch; the cancer didn’t start with the growths. I still wonder, anyway, because I have other cats, but she was so normal - good appetite, even on the day she went to the vet, being active, etc.
I’m trying to think of what else I could do for her. Right now I cry a lot, when she seems so nonchalant.
I don’t want to tell her good-bye, but I won’t keep her here to suffer, either. Right now she’s still enjoying life, and I want to enjoy her time she has left with me.
Pickled Duck Lips ⋅ April 06, 2015
As a cat owner myself, I can only imagine the pain that you are going through. Very sorry.
Is it possible that it's just benign growths and not cancerous?
Eriu Pickled Duck Lips ⋅ April 07, 2015
Her whole lymph system is swollen, but I keep hoping. The shots took care of her fever and she's been very active. She lost a pound since last week, but the vet agreed it could be due to her increased activity. He said her attitude was better, too, and the growths seem drier. She's running around my office right now.
EvequeFou ⋅ April 06, 2015
So sorry -- losing my cats when I was a kid was hard, and one of our current cats is on the elderly side, so I'm probably going to go through it again sooner or later. No fun.
Eriu EvequeFou ⋅ April 07, 2015
Definitely no fun. My main concern until this diagnosis was for my two old ladies. One is slower, sleeps all the time, climbs up things rather than jumps; someone dumped her at my workplace 11-12 years ago, and she was a full grown cat then. The other I've had since she was a kitten; she's still spry, but she's 18. I hate to think of the day we part.
Katren...In Conclusion ⋅ April 07, 2015
So sorry. Excuse typing, sight almost gone.
Ragdolls ⋅ April 07, 2015
(((HUGS)))
Eriu ⋅ April 07, 2015
Katren, Ragdolls, SeaShoreClams, and Zenith - thank you so much for being there!!!
edna million ⋅ April 09, 2015
Oh, I'm so sorry -- that's such an awful thing to go through. I hope it turns out that the growths aren't malignant and she's with you for a long long time. And definitely don't blame yourself - you're doing all you can do. They're like our kids - I dread the thought of losing mine one day. They're 8 so hopefully have long lives ahead. We just had to have my dad's cat put to sleep last weekend because he had a tumor behind his eye, and it was awful. Baker B and I rescued Simon and his sister when they were tiny kittens, and my mom took them. She passed away six years ago, and Daddy's kept them ever since, but Simon had been staying with us for several months due to his health. He was 14 but that's just not long enough.
Eriu edna million ⋅ April 09, 2015
Thanks for stopping by! I have a cat who's 18 and still spry but I know I'll have to face life without her one day, and having my 12-year-old now with cancer makes me face their mortality, and I don't want to.