I debated doing a Feline Friday entry. But I had my camera out and DK seemed to be in the mood to be co-operative. It is a little bitter sweet right now taking pictures of her.
Why? Because late in November, just about the time I started having computer problems I took DK into the vet for a check-up. She had been coughing for a couple of weeks (I thought from a hairball and I had been giving her some over the counter medicine for that), and in the process of holding her to give her the hairball medicine we had discovered a small lump. Since the hairball medicine didn't appear to be working and the lump was a worry, I called and made a vet appointment.
It turns out that the lump is a cancer, and apparently a very fast moving one as the coughing is being caused because the cancer has already masticated to the lungs. Due to her age and the fact the cancer had already metastasized and was not localized, the vet recommended not putting her thru the surgery to remove the lump and to just treat the symptoms. As long as she appears healthy, happy, not in pain, and the medicine keeps her from coughing much we are going to go along as normally as we can.
The scary thing is that she had a complete physical and blood work along with getting her shots at the end of last Feb(2006) and was completely healthy! We always opt to take the kids into the vet and get physicals every year along with their shots just so we can be sure they are healthy and we aren't missing anything (such as a lump or internal problem). Sadly the vet told us that this kind of cancer is very common in older cats (DK is 12 ) and usually appears very suddenly.
Needless to say, my heart is breaking and DK is reaping the reward of being spoiled rotten with lots of treats and rubs. She is also taking the whole 'pill every other day' thing like a champ. We just open her mouth, put the pill in and she swallows. I think she realizes that the pill helps because if any of you out there have ever tried to give a cat a pill you know that they aren't usually co-operative.
We are hoping that with the medicine we will still have her around for quite a while, but we won't make her suffer just to keep her with us. Still, from the picture, you can see that except for a slight weight loss she seems her normal self.
Oops... Somehow I didn't copy the last line of the post off of my external program that I use to make posts. The line I missed said:
If you want to play along, take a picture of a cat and leave your link over at (sometimes)Photoblog!
4 comments:
DK is a good looking cat. I'm sorry to read that she is not well inside, though she appears healthy on the outside. we just never know when unexpected things happens.
hugs,
Gem~
Beautiful cat. Sad story. Many comforting hugs to both of you!!
XXXXXX
Russ
She's a beauty! And while it's probably melancholy to be taking pictures of your very ill kitty, it will be so nice to have 'just that many more' later on. Feel good kitty, as long as you can.
Oh my gosh how sad.......I really feel for you regarding DK. My cat Socrates looks just like her. (Hugs) Wonderful picture of her though. Indigo
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