Tabby Thursday - Joey Update

Me with my t-shirt collar - keeps me from scratching my boo boo.

Joey here today to give you a update.  The past two weeks shave been full of vet visits, tests, Mom waiting by the phone to hear back from them...but we think we have things down now.

I had a physical with our vet and they did blood work on me.  It shows that I have some underlying health issues that may make surgery more risky than normal.  Mom took me to another vet - a surgeon, for another look and he also did  two needle aspirations on my lumps.  Both came back as abnormal cells - cancerous.  Both vets seem to think they are different forms of cancer, are localized in the upper layers of skin, don't seem to have spread and are slow growing.

My cool ear tufts!

Then another consult with a holistic vet who specializes in cancer treatment.  Conventional treatment would be to take the lumps off but I may have a harder time with surgery and recovering due to my unrelated health issues going on.  The holistic cancer vet wants to try to build up my immune system and shrink the tumors using herbs, homeopathy and other alternative treatments and see what is going on in two to three months.  I may still have to have the surgery then but maybe not if all works well with this treatment. Mom likes this vet and has used him successfully in the past on other cats.

All the money you helped raise for me  has gone for two vet visits, blood work, needle biopsies and pathologies, and for the alternative vet and treatments.  We still have some put aside for future use in case I do need surgery and will leave up our donation button for that too.

We wanted to let you all know what is going on and will keep you updated on this alternative treatment.  Keep on purring for me - I do want to be around for many years to come.

Chica's Home!

UPDATE - Thurs Am

Chica had a rough night last night with more vomiting foam and crying but we got her pain meds in and she settled down I did have to force feed her.  I called the vet this morning and they had offered her 3 kinds of food each meal and she would eat one but not the same so I did that and she ate on her own this morning.  We will give her a few days to settle in and then we have to take her back to the vet for another blood and urine test next week.  We will just take things one day at a time.  Thank you all for being so supportive.  I am off today and will stop by to visit everyone.  Keep those purrs coming! (Rosa is doing better too.)

I had an out of town doctor appointment this morning and called about Chica as soon as I came home.  I was so excited to be able to go get Chica, I left home without the carrier!  When I went back for it I almost took Minnie with me as she had fallen asleep inside the carrier.  She came out unwillingly and I was off to get my precious Chica.

Chica headed for the litter box with Minnie right behind

Chica will be on antibiotics for 10 days along with a pain med - with sub c fluids twice weekly while she recovers.  Her kidney values are down  from a few days ago which is good. We need to go back next week to check them.  The vet feels like it is mainly a very bad UTI.  Once we are done with the meds, we will see how she feels.  If need be, we may go in for an ultra sound to see if her pancreas is inflamed.

Chica resting while Minnie checks her out.

The vet staff enjoyed her - very perky and vocal today.  She went right for the litter box when we got home and plopped down on the living room floor.  Minnie was there to check her out and I am sure to see if she could still nap in the carrier.  Chica will be tired for a while - this has been quite an ordeal for her.

Thank you all for your purrs, prayers and donations.  Brian's Home and Marg's Pets put up a Chip-in (I posted it on our sidebar) for us to help pay for this hospitalization. Bless you both for this. I am also dealing with Rosa who has a UTI also.  I will be adding more things for sale on my Wildcat Woods Vintage Treasures blog so do check that out regularly.  All donations and sales will go towards care for Chica and the other cats.

I consider myself so fortunate to have such great buddies as you all.  I know this would have been so much harder to go thru without your help. I will be by to visit all of you in the days to come. I will keep everyone updated on Chica's progress.  She is a very spunky tough old lady!

Keep those purrs and prayers coming - Chica is not out of the woods just yet!