Poor Teddi (my cat) hasn't coped well with our enforced nomadic lifestyle this summer. Every time we've moved house, every time he needed to be put into a cat carrier and driven somewhere in the car, every time he had to get used to a new house, he has found it very stressful. At one of the places we stayed, we were looking after friends' dog, a big boxer. He was very sweet, but he wasn't used to cats. Teddi needed to be enclosed in a small room where he spent most of the time hiding under the bed, because the boxer barked at him if he appeared in the doorway (even though I'd put up a baby gate to keep them separated.) He's doing a bit better now that we're back in AlhaurÃn and have a house all to ourselves; we're house sitting while a friend is on outreach in the Ukraine.
But last week, Teddi suddenly stopped eating dry cat food and would only eat soft wet food. I began to wonder if he had toothache and soon I noticed that he had terrible bad breath. On Monday this week, I took him to the vet and she discovered that he has a huge tumour under his tongue. That's what's been making it difficult for him to chew or swallow. As he's getting elderly and already has some kidney issues, it looked as if surgery would be too risky, and so I've been preparing myself to grieve and to put him to sleep. He's already lost a kilo from eating less, and it wouldn't be fair to wait much longer... even though he's generally happy and snuggly as always.
Today his blood tests came back and the vet phoned me to say that it's really not too bad: that his kidney failure is well under control and he has a good chance of living more years. As mouth surgery is so expensive in the veterinary hospital, she's suggested that she does it herself - tomorrow in our own vet surgery - to see how much of the tumour she can remove. If we're lucky, the root of it won't be too deep.
I'm not going to do a biopsy, because I already know that I'm not going to subject my old boy to chemotherapy... but I've decided to follow the vet's recommendation and have her operate on him tomorrow morning to at least give him a chance. As she pointed out, if she herself does the surgery, operating to see if we can give him an opportunity to live longer will not really cost much more than just euthanising and cremating him without giving him a fair chance to recover.
If all goes well, this op might be the end of the problem and Teddi can enjoy some more senior years. Alternatively, if the tumour comes back in the future, that would be a clear indication that it's time to make the decision to say goodbye and put him to sleep.
So, early tomorrow morning, 8.30 Spanish time, my sweet boy will go into surgery.... and my thoughts and prayers will go with him.
I'll let you know what happens.
