taxlady

As some of you have already read, the news on

sucha wasn't good. She has a mass in her mouth, and that is almost always cancer in a cat. There also seems to be some infection (she has been drooling and yesterday the drool started to smell infected.). Her teeth seem fine. Her kidneys were starting to function less than optimally two years ago and may well be far worse now. The vet wants to rule out kidney failure and liver problems before doing anything else. Blood was taken. The vet will save some of the blood for a thyroid test, if the other tests don't seem to explain the problems. There is a fair chance that she has both kidney and thyroid problems. Kidney alone would cause her to lose her appetite (she still has quite the appetite). But, if there is a thyroid problem, it raises the metabolism and counters the lack of appetite. The vet suggested the gold plated cat food (Medi-cal convalescent formula, 6 oz/170 g for $2.76 + taxes).

sucha seems to really like this stuff.

The vet is very nice. I really liked her and

sucha may not have out and out liked her, but she seemed quite accepting of her. She also doesn't seem to be the kind of vet who wants you to spend a boatload of money to save your cat. She gave us an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, in a tiny dose.

I asked what were the options. If the mass is cancer, they can surgically remove her mandible. But, that is only useful if it hasn't metastased yet, and the vet thinks it probably has. They want to know the results of the the blood tests before they can properly diagnose for cancer and metastasis, because she will be anaesthesized for that and they don't want to give her drugs if her liver and kidneys aren't functioning well. Even if they are functioning well, the vet doesn't really recommend surgery (~$1,500), because of her age. If she were six or seven, it would be another story. So, if the infection goes away and she can take the anti-inflammatory, she might have a few weeks or months. The vet said that the poor dear is in pain and that is why she is yowling.

The vet had the technician try to shave the mats and dreadlocks off of

sucha, but didn't get very far.

sucha got very upset when the mats were too close to the skin and the vet was afraid that her skin might get cut. So,

sucha is not at her prettiest. One side of her back half has been partially shaved.

I'm just glad that she had a pretty good 15 years. I am not looking forward to having her put down. I wonder how our other cat,

shreddy will take it.