{"id":4176,"date":"2018-01-22T23:49:23","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T06:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/?p=4176"},"modified":"2018-01-22T23:49:23","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T06:49:23","slug":"the-cats-you-save-and-the-cats-you-make-comfortable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/22\/the-cats-you-save-and-the-cats-you-make-comfortable\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cats You Save … and the Cats You Make Comfortable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

SO RECENTLY I had a very vivid dream in which my veterinarian said to me “There are some cats you save \u2026 and some you make comfortable.” I think the context behind that dream is worth a little unpacking, don’t you?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Loki the Loquacious is a cat that we saved. I came home one day to find him yowling and lethargic, sensitive to the touch yet unwilling to move, with a bloated feeling to the touch, and after a brief search online we rushed him to the nearby animal hospital who quickly diagnosed him with a urinary tract blockage, put him on a catheter, and nursed him back to health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, he hates the urinary tract pet food we feed him and the occasional water droppers when he\u2019s not drinking, but unless this outdoor cat gets too adventurous, he\u2019s probably got a long life ahead of him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caesar the Conqueror is a cat that we made comfortable. He\u2019d been made frail by a long battle with a thyroid condition when he decided to start peeing inappropriately indoors, so we had to make him an outdoors cat; but we were able to set up a relatively nice outdoor area for him. But then some nasal obstruction began interfering with his breathing, and he ultimately wheezed himself to death.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We kept him comfortable, of course, until he took a rapid turn downhill, and then we had him peacefully put to sleep in my arms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for Lenora the Cat \u2026 the jury is still out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She\u2019s a healthy-looking, happy-looking, active cat, and even though she from time to time got pencil-eraser sized moles, and once even a larger lump on a back leg, they were always benign \u2026 until a month ago. Then a new mole appeared, and another, and another, until she had dozens of the tiny, not-itchy, not-bleeding, not-discolored bumps all over her body. We took her to the doctor, who found two more walnut-sized lumps in her abdomen; biopsies revealed these to be mast cell tumors (MCT or mastocytoma).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Our doctor\u2019s recommended regimen – a cortisone shot, followed by predisone and possibly other medications – tracks with what I\u2019ve been able to research. Cortisone and similar drugs are recommended, and sometimes even can cure it, especially if it\u2019s on the skin; but prognosis for lumps in the internals are more guarded – and she\u2019s gotten another lump since the biopsy.<\/p>\n

So now we\u2019re researching, weighing the options of continuing treatment vs seeing an oncologist now (our vet is of the opinion that we\u2019d have to wait a few weeks for an oncologist to get good readings on bloodwork because of the cortisone shot, but if I was an oncologist I\u2019d want to see that third lump right now). Cats with this condition can last three years with surgery, a year with palliative care \u2026 or can die within weeks if it\u2019s serious.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t yet know if Lenora\u2019s a cat we must make comfortable \u2026 or that we can save.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping.<\/p>\n

-The Centaur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SO RECENTLY I had a very vivid dream in which my veterinarian said to me “There are some cats you save \u2026 and some you make comfortable.” I think the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[193,194],"tags":[23,5],"class_list":["post-4176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-life","category-the-cats","tag-the-cats","tag-we-call-it-living","ratio-2-1","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4183,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions\/4183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}