My Sick Cat, My Rollercoaster
My wonderful cat Katie took ill last Wednesday evening, drooling all of a sudden and rapidly losing several pounds of body weight. She’s been to the vet three times in the last few days, the last time for an inconclusive (and expensive) ultrasound that narrowed things down to either feline hepatic lipidosis or lymphoma. The vet also took some fluid from her liver and sent it out for cytology. I won’t get the results until Wednesday (the vet’s initial reading before sending it to pathology was that there were no obviously cancerous cells, but as she told, “I’m not a pathologist”). If it’s cancer, I will put Katie down the next time she relapses (she’s currently comfortable and eating and drinking although not as much as I’d like. She put three-fourths of a pound back on between Saturday evening and Sunday morning). If it’s lipidosis, I’ll do what I can to get her past it.
When I was much younger, my family had a 14-year-old cat who we got through a near-fatal bladder condition. She improved and lived to be 22.
I’ve already drained my bank account getting to now, so I have no idea what the future holds or what treatment I’ll be able to offer Katie.
This all came on very suddenly. Katie was literally chasing the laser pointer toy on Tuesday evening. I am crushed emotionally and have been on a huge emotional rollercoaster because I thought my cat was almost 10 years old with plenty of life left. Three vets in the last few days have told me she is 14-years-old and that I was lied to by the shelter where I got her in January 2003–something they do all the time, one of the vets told me. Nice. I haven’t slept much either.
I’m not sure how much I’ll be writing the next few days. It’ll depend on how my cat is doing and how rattled I am. I’m plenty rattled already. So is my other cat, KC, who is also pissed at all the attention I’m giving Katie.
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Posted in Furious Seasons