Stella came to us early last week. The lady who found her dumped on the side of the road tried to care for her, but was having no luck. She reached out on the El Paso subreddit to see if someone was willing to help. Mandarin’s Retreat responded and we suggested that she take Stella to the principal vet of the Retreat. One of the great docs there examined Stella and found a tumor in her left ear as well as significant tissue damage on her nose.
Two days later Stella was in surgery for the tumor and for a biopsy or two. While the vet thought the removal of the polyp might have been complicated, it turned out that it was just sitting there unconnected to anything. Stella’s little nose was then biopsied and off all the tissue went for histopathology.
The biggest concern right now is that Stella’s nose tissue is cancerous. We’ll know the results in about a week or so. So, everyone keep your fingers and tails crossed for her. A Paw Circle would not be remiss.
Now for the vet bill. Stella’s initial examination was $145 which included her exam, feline leukemia/FIV test and medicines. Not too expensive and inline with what the Retreat averages for a initial exam. The surgery surprised me a bit. It was less expensive than I thought due to ease of the polyp removal. What surprised me was the cost of the examination of the biopsies. The histopathology for the two samples was $360. Stella’s bill for the day was $844.95 or just under $1,000 for the two visits. We went through our monthly vet budget like a hot knife through butter.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Our vet and their staff are great and they give us breaks on almost everything. It’s just the cost of meds and other items have gone through the roof post-COVID. This is where Mandarin’s Retreat, or any other pet rescue, can use your donations or grants. We can only guesstimate the cost of vet visits. It’s really a throw of the dice plus the needs of the cats we receive.
Please help us if you can.
Now for some good news. The Retreat got it’s first recurring donation this week. Francisco provided us with a $20 monthly donation. Thank you so much from us and our furry tribe at the Retreat. We have named Francisco a Mandarin Kahu. I learned the term “kahu” a couple of months ago from a tweet. Kahu is an Hawaiian term which indicates a spiritual relationship between a human and an animal. The human is not the pet’s owner, but protector or guardian. For me I like to think of a kahu as a shepherd – guiding, guarding, seeing to the feeding, etc. Though the picture of a shepherd trying to herd a bunch of cats makes me giggle – here’s an old EDS commercial will give you the gist. All joking aside, thanks Francisco and may you be the first of many.
As soon as we know Stella’s results, we’ll post on X and other sites. I’ll also post the results in the blog when we get them.