Paul and I were faced with the reality that we own senior pets over the past couple of weeks. Alex, whom we have had since he was a kitten in ’97, had a bump removed from his lip several weeks ago. It was sent out for a biopsy and came back as lymphoma – cancer. I won’t go into all the details but we are lucky to have the vet school at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY about 2 hours away. I drove Alex down to be tested at the Oncology Department this past Thursday. The good news is that he doesn’t have lymphoma anywhere else in his body. The bad news is that they did not get all of the cancer cells when they removed the bump on his lip, Monday I will drive him back down to Cornell for a radiation treatment that will take care of the remaining cancer cells.
Needless to say, Alex is feeling a little tired as he lies on my desk while I type and he’s a little embarrassed to have the other cats see him. His belly is shaved from where they did the ultrasound, bare spots on each leg and a few shaved spots on his back from the other tests they preformed.
It just so happened that I was already making the drive down to Cornell for a follow up appointment for our other cat Simon who has been diagnosed with lung disease. Simon was a stray we adopted in ‘97 as an adult cat. We aren’t sure just how old he is but he must have led an interesting life before he came to live with us from some of his quirky habits. He sure belongs in this house though because he can sniff out the fresh fabric to lie on.
The two cats became fast friends and often eat, sleep and play together. They have a mutual respect for each other as neither cat will play with the other one’s toy no matter how enticing we may make it look. It’s been a couple of week with ups and downs but we are glad both are on the mend and will be with us for awhile yet.
Needless to say, Alex is feeling a little tired as he lies on my desk while I type and he’s a little embarrassed to have the other cats see him. His belly is shaved from where they did the ultrasound, bare spots on each leg and a few shaved spots on his back from the other tests they preformed.
It just so happened that I was already making the drive down to Cornell for a follow up appointment for our other cat Simon who has been diagnosed with lung disease. Simon was a stray we adopted in ‘97 as an adult cat. We aren’t sure just how old he is but he must have led an interesting life before he came to live with us from some of his quirky habits. He sure belongs in this house though because he can sniff out the fresh fabric to lie on.
The two cats became fast friends and often eat, sleep and play together. They have a mutual respect for each other as neither cat will play with the other one’s toy no matter how enticing we may make it look. It’s been a couple of week with ups and downs but we are glad both are on the mend and will be with us for awhile yet.
1 comment:
Hi Nancy,
Sorry to hear your cat was diagnosed with cancer. We live with a senior dachshund "Heidi". She is a cancer survivor. She had major surgery with no other treatment and she is doing well. I wish you all the best. Jamie
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