Nyx update
Well, after so long, Nyx is dead.
The tumor continued to grow and grow. The vet said "benign", Nyx wasn't in any pain as far as I could tell, and it didn't interfere with him. So I left it.
The skin blistered and split, and then it got to be fun. No more money for the vet, and all he could do was take the leg, and Nyx was too weak to live throught that. So I cleaned and medicated and covered the wound twice a day. It got bad for awhile = the tumor flesh looked like rotten meat, there was a continual drainage, etc., but Nyx still didn't seem to be in pain. His circulation and nerves were working fine in the leg - reflexes were good and the foot was warm.
After all the rotten looking flesh was gone, there was still a lot of jelly-like drainage. When that finally stopped, the tumor was gone altogether and all I saw was pink, healthy muscle tissue.
Unfortunately, by that point, it was too late. Nyx had given up and stopped eating. He died the day after I had decided that he might make it after all. The girls and I buried him on Bonnie's land, in a place where no one will be building or plowing any time soon .
I'm still amazed at the tumor "melting", as it were. I suppose what really killed him, though, might have been some form of infection, maybe gangrene. He didn't have a fever and seemed to be in good general spirits until he got so weak. I dunno. It's done now, at any rate.
I miss him. Well, I would. I had him 14 years. I look around to see what he's doing. I automatically check to see if he has food and water. And so on.
Everyone advises me to get another one immediately. I don't think so. For one thing, it wouldn't feel right. I wouldn't get another cat when I had Nyx because I knew he wouldn't like it, and now I just need some time before I make that decision. It's not one that's easy to get out of if one changes one's mind.
I do know that I'll never own a pet again without having pet insurance. If I'd been able to afford it, I'd have insisted on the vet's taking the leg at the beginning. The cat would have had a fighting chance that way, at least.
As far as anything else in my life goes, it's pretty much all the same, I think.
I think I'm going to cancel December from now on. I lose far too much in Decembers.
The tumor continued to grow and grow. The vet said "benign", Nyx wasn't in any pain as far as I could tell, and it didn't interfere with him. So I left it.
The skin blistered and split, and then it got to be fun. No more money for the vet, and all he could do was take the leg, and Nyx was too weak to live throught that. So I cleaned and medicated and covered the wound twice a day. It got bad for awhile = the tumor flesh looked like rotten meat, there was a continual drainage, etc., but Nyx still didn't seem to be in pain. His circulation and nerves were working fine in the leg - reflexes were good and the foot was warm.
After all the rotten looking flesh was gone, there was still a lot of jelly-like drainage. When that finally stopped, the tumor was gone altogether and all I saw was pink, healthy muscle tissue.
Unfortunately, by that point, it was too late. Nyx had given up and stopped eating. He died the day after I had decided that he might make it after all. The girls and I buried him on Bonnie's land, in a place where no one will be building or plowing any time soon .
I'm still amazed at the tumor "melting", as it were. I suppose what really killed him, though, might have been some form of infection, maybe gangrene. He didn't have a fever and seemed to be in good general spirits until he got so weak. I dunno. It's done now, at any rate.
I miss him. Well, I would. I had him 14 years. I look around to see what he's doing. I automatically check to see if he has food and water. And so on.
Everyone advises me to get another one immediately. I don't think so. For one thing, it wouldn't feel right. I wouldn't get another cat when I had Nyx because I knew he wouldn't like it, and now I just need some time before I make that decision. It's not one that's easy to get out of if one changes one's mind.
I do know that I'll never own a pet again without having pet insurance. If I'd been able to afford it, I'd have insisted on the vet's taking the leg at the beginning. The cat would have had a fighting chance that way, at least.
As far as anything else in my life goes, it's pretty much all the same, I think.
I think I'm going to cancel December from now on. I lose far too much in Decembers.