Kitty-Kat is on the Mend (Hopefully)

On Saturday night as I was putting Greenleigh to bed, she insisted that I move our cat, Sonoma, off her bed.  A fair request, but it should be noted that Greenleigh and Sonoma have had a somewhat tumultuous relationship, with Greenleigh firing the first shot of “Kitty Kat no my room!” at around 2 years old.  Sonoma, who believes the house is actually hers, did not adjust well to being banned from one room of the house by a 2 year old.  Since then, there have been a few cease fires, but in general Greenleigh would prefer that Kitty Kat stay out of her space.  Kitty Kat refuses to abide by these “requests”.  I’m currently brokering the peace keeping negotiations, but it’s a work in progress.

Anyway, as I lifted Sonoma off the tiny toddler bed, she unexpectedly flailed and growled.  I could have sworn she actually let out a scream somewhere in the middle of the failing, but I’m not exactly sure.  Coming from the calmest cat in the world, I was more than a little concerned.  I put Sonoma down just outside Greenleigh’s bedroom door, pet her back, and she began to purr.  She then laid down close to the doorway.  I tucked Greenleigh in, said goodnight, and closed the door, only to spend the next 20 minutes outside Greenleigh’s room trying to figure out what had caused Sonoma to growl and scream.  But all I could find was a bump above her back leg, right by her tail.

I panicked and did what everyone does late at night when they don’t have an expert on speed dial – I consulted Dr. Google…who within minutes had me convinced that this was the final stages of some form of feline cancer.  My husband talked me off the ledge and convinced me not to go to the emergency vet.  Instead, I found a vet with Sunday morning appointments and bookmarked their page on my computer.  The next morning I called and they got us in right after breakfast.Greenleigh even agreed to put their differences aside and accompany us to the vet.  Because the vet’s office is a pretty exciting destination when you’re 4 years old.  And it really helped that the vet loosely resembled her favorite character, Doc McStuffins.

The diagnosis?  Sonoma has an abscess by her tail that had ruptured.  It was actually bleeding by the time we got to the vet.  And she has a pretty serious mouth infection that’s going to require surgery and extractions.  And throughout it all, Sonoma purred.  And purred.  And purred.  She purred so loud that they had problems getting her heartbeat.  The vet techs said she was a welcome change from all their other patients that morning.

The bottom line is that it could be cancer.  Could be.  But for now, we have to tackle it in steps.  First, we need to give her pain meds for her mouth and try to heal what we can with respect to the abscess.  I’m currently giving her 2 meds by mouth twice a day, which requires 3 hands and protective gear.  Oh, and lots and lots of courage.  I also have a topical spray for the abscess, which thankfully, is a bit easier to apply.  Next, we have to get her up to date on her shots and have her evaluated for surgery.  Because of the pain that she was in yesterday, they couldn’t get a good look at her mouth and with the abscess oozing and bleeding, there was no way to determine if there were signs of a tumor under it.   That’s going to happen later this week.  Finally, she’ll need to have surgery on her mouth and maybe have the abscess biopsied.  The exact date of the surgery is still undetermined, but probably within the next 2 weeks.

Of course, it’s all a little scary for me.  Okay, in all honesty, I’m terrified to put my senior cat under anesthesia for surgery.  Sonoma was my first “baby”, adopted when I was a very poor law student.  I’ve had her for 11 years and she’s been the best cat anyone could ever ask for.  She’s part of our family.  And although I don’t think she’s thrilled about the more recent additions to our house (starting with our dog Madison in 2007, then followed by the two-legged additions in 2009 & 2011), she’s been great with them.  She’s the type of cat that runs to greet you at the door when you come home from work and is the first to welcome company.  She’s the type of cat that somehow missed the memo that she’s not a dog.

Naturally, my mind races with at all the ways that this could end badly.  But for now, all we can do is be optimistic and keep up with her treatment plan, which is what we’re doing.

My husband, on the other hand, is still recovering from sticker shock and would very much like for Sonoma to get a job right about now.  Although the estimates we’ve received for her care have been fairly reasonable, they’re also somewhat unexpected.  Anyone looking to hire a black and white domestic shorthair with absolutely no marketable skills or ambition of any kind, please inquire.

Hey, it’s worth a shot, right?