SirenSongWoman
Cathlete
I was lying in bed about a week-and-a-half ago running my hands down my Gracie's thick fur when I felt a lump on her right hindquarters. Gracie is my hyper-affectionate, huge (18 lbs), furry kitty who purrs like a mac truck. I can't stress enough what a sweet, loving creature she is and how much I love her.
When I stumbled upon the lump I felt sick. I'm going through tough financial times which, hopefully, will be over at the end of September. Still, no matter what I do, money will be extremely tight for a while. I had to wait until I got paid so I finally got her to the vet late yesterday. While discussing all this, as a terrified Gracie hid under a big towel, I mentioned that she also had a small bump on her tail I'd found that I thought she might need to also check out. Gracie's fur is so thick it took the poor woman forever to find it. And that was with a tech holding her down to keep my Jelly Belly from flopping around.
In the end, cells were taken from both masses and when my vet came back she said the BIG bump on Gracie's bum was just fat. But the bump (I don't know the technical lingo) on her tail was a hard mass, probably cancerous. She doesn't know at which stage the cells in the bump are and will get back to me on that. Nonetheless, she says the odds of getting all the cells by cutting out the lump and the surrounding tissue are questionable. Hence, my Gracie has to have (most) of her tail removed, just to be safe. Whatever level cancer is there, the odds are excellent for a full recovery, sans tail.
I had a feeling, going in, that my baby wouldn't be taken from me, and I'm EXTREMELY grateful for that. But I think she's going to be very unhappy without her favorite annoying attribute. I call her my akita-kitty because her huge, fluffy, plume-like tail flips up, with the tip pointed toward her head, like an akita. When she pops up in bed with me, to the right of my head, facing the window, she likes to flip That Thing in my face. I have allergies so that always starts a sneeze-fest. Sweet as she is, she knows how to pull her tail under her but she just doesn't sometimes. I think it's a sly power move. After she's de-tailed, she'll no longer be able to do that.
I just can't imagine Gracie with a bobbed tail. Just needed to vent my mixed feelings.
When I stumbled upon the lump I felt sick. I'm going through tough financial times which, hopefully, will be over at the end of September. Still, no matter what I do, money will be extremely tight for a while. I had to wait until I got paid so I finally got her to the vet late yesterday. While discussing all this, as a terrified Gracie hid under a big towel, I mentioned that she also had a small bump on her tail I'd found that I thought she might need to also check out. Gracie's fur is so thick it took the poor woman forever to find it. And that was with a tech holding her down to keep my Jelly Belly from flopping around.
In the end, cells were taken from both masses and when my vet came back she said the BIG bump on Gracie's bum was just fat. But the bump (I don't know the technical lingo) on her tail was a hard mass, probably cancerous. She doesn't know at which stage the cells in the bump are and will get back to me on that. Nonetheless, she says the odds of getting all the cells by cutting out the lump and the surrounding tissue are questionable. Hence, my Gracie has to have (most) of her tail removed, just to be safe. Whatever level cancer is there, the odds are excellent for a full recovery, sans tail.
I had a feeling, going in, that my baby wouldn't be taken from me, and I'm EXTREMELY grateful for that. But I think she's going to be very unhappy without her favorite annoying attribute. I call her my akita-kitty because her huge, fluffy, plume-like tail flips up, with the tip pointed toward her head, like an akita. When she pops up in bed with me, to the right of my head, facing the window, she likes to flip That Thing in my face. I have allergies so that always starts a sneeze-fest. Sweet as she is, she knows how to pull her tail under her but she just doesn't sometimes. I think it's a sly power move. After she's de-tailed, she'll no longer be able to do that.
I just can't imagine Gracie with a bobbed tail. Just needed to vent my mixed feelings.
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