Reflections on Callie - part 1 of several
I may be waxing philosophical over the next few days, on topics generally centering around life, death, and multiple cat ownership. At the outset, I feel a need to describe the circumstances leading me here.
My oldest cat, Calliope ("Callie"), turned fourteen in April. Callie has been gradually losing weight over the last few years - which in itself is not alarming for a senior cat, and frankly she was somewhat overweight before. (For reference, Callie once flirted with 16 lbs. Today she weighs slightly over eight.)
In the last year-plus, this weight loss has become alarming, and has been accompanied by liver inflammation. She has been on prednasone for roughly a year. In the last few months she has essentially stopped eating dry cat food; in the last month, she has had a diminished appetite even when fed wet food separately from other cats. Ultrasound tests (first a year ago, again more recently) revealed some thickening of the intestines - thought to be early stages of inflammatory bowel disease.
In the last week, her liver has re-inflamed. Based on a visit with a specialist, we have at this point a presumptive diagnosis of small-cell lymphoma, causing (or aggravating) the liver inflammation. We have stepped up her prednasone dosage in the hope of getting her liver under control; if she gains ground in the next week, we can discuss medication for the lymphoma.
And if she doesn't get better in the next week ... she won't get better.
Of course the best possible outcome is that she rallies on the prednasone sufficiently to justify an exploratory surgery which reveals that the problem is a noncancerous, soft tissue, removable growth in the GI tract. And, on a related note, I might win the lottery.
The most positive among likely outcomes is that, if she rallies on the prednasone, she could have as much as two years on chemotherapy - which cats tolerate fairly well. (Incidentally, given the average age of cats who get cancer, a two-year life expectancy is tantamount to saying it can be treated to a standstill.)
There is reason to hope that I might get as much as another year or two with my cat... and if those years are in the cards, I will gratefully take them. But it is also possible that the prednasone is coming too late and she might be gone within the month.
My oldest cat, Calliope ("Callie"), turned fourteen in April. Callie has been gradually losing weight over the last few years - which in itself is not alarming for a senior cat, and frankly she was somewhat overweight before. (For reference, Callie once flirted with 16 lbs. Today she weighs slightly over eight.)
In the last year-plus, this weight loss has become alarming, and has been accompanied by liver inflammation. She has been on prednasone for roughly a year. In the last few months she has essentially stopped eating dry cat food; in the last month, she has had a diminished appetite even when fed wet food separately from other cats. Ultrasound tests (first a year ago, again more recently) revealed some thickening of the intestines - thought to be early stages of inflammatory bowel disease.
In the last week, her liver has re-inflamed. Based on a visit with a specialist, we have at this point a presumptive diagnosis of small-cell lymphoma, causing (or aggravating) the liver inflammation. We have stepped up her prednasone dosage in the hope of getting her liver under control; if she gains ground in the next week, we can discuss medication for the lymphoma.
And if she doesn't get better in the next week ... she won't get better.
Of course the best possible outcome is that she rallies on the prednasone sufficiently to justify an exploratory surgery which reveals that the problem is a noncancerous, soft tissue, removable growth in the GI tract. And, on a related note, I might win the lottery.
The most positive among likely outcomes is that, if she rallies on the prednasone, she could have as much as two years on chemotherapy - which cats tolerate fairly well. (Incidentally, given the average age of cats who get cancer, a two-year life expectancy is tantamount to saying it can be treated to a standstill.)
There is reason to hope that I might get as much as another year or two with my cat... and if those years are in the cards, I will gratefully take them. But it is also possible that the prednasone is coming too late and she might be gone within the month.