Last week I mentioned that Stella was a very sick kitty who everyone thought had one or two types of cancer. She didn’t have a very good prognosis. Her little nose was swollen, inflamed and was missing fur across the bridge. She had a tumor in her left ear which indicated a very complicated and expensive surgery to remove.
Stella came home post-op filled to her little eyeballs with meds, treats and other tricks. As the week wore on, we noticed that she started perking up and became very chatty. As you can see in the photo above, the stitch in her nose gives her the look of a boxer who lost her fight. We kept Stella in semi-isolation in her kennel in my office/TV room with only a couple of older cats – Cookie and Linus to keep company. After a couple of days, we opened the kennel and allowed her a “walk-about” in the room. There was very little hissing and lots of sniffing. I think her earlier “bad behavior” with other cats was more caused by the pain in her ear than her normal cattitude.
We got the results of her histopathology late Friday and learned that her cancer was limited to the polyp in her ear and not complicated by a cancerous nose. As far as her ear cancer is concerned, out vets suggested a wait and see approach as all of the cancerous mass had been excised and with the type of the cancer, there is little reason to believe that it metastasized. Everyone at the Retreat, to include Stella, breathed a sigh of relief. Day-by-day, her inflamed nose improves and she gets a bit more sass in her demeanor. Stella is still very thin and her shaved back makes her look emaciated, but she’s eating well and doing all the healthy cats things of eating, drinking, pooping, and sleeping. We’ll watch her closely but we’ve every reason to believe she’s turned the corner and is heading out of the woods.
For those who would like to help us pay Stella’s 4-figure vet bill, we set up a special donation account for her on Givebutter. Should you prefer to provide general items for the Retreat, our Amazon Wish List can be found here.