Monthly Archives: April 2010

Today, Keith and both had the day off for other reasons but it was timely.  Trooper had been doing weird things with his mouth after eating last few days and I thought he may have a loose tooth moving around or an abscess.   We got into the vet this morning and it turns out it’s likely he has Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  We’ll know for sure Wednesday after the biopsy results are in.  But after reading about it on the web, I’m sure my vet is right.

This cat came into my life the year my Dad died, sixteen years ago.  He’s survived so many life threatening injuries, I’ve lost count- but I’ll list what I can remember.

• A former coworker was also a rancher and her barn cat had kittens (Trooper’s ma).  The mama cat and her litter were attacked by a dog and all died, but Trooper.  He lost his tail in the fight.  My coworker weaned him and he found his way to me.  When it comes to cats, I have never gone looking for them- I just have a thought that “Hey, I could use a kitty right about now” and they present themselves.  
• Shortly after we brought him home, he decided that he was going to fight the rocker chair Keith was rocking in.  That resulted in a broken jaw that needed a pin.
• He was hit by a car – suffered filed down nails (from skidding across asphalt) and an abcess between the leg and groin.
• He liked to hang out on the roll up garage door at our previous house, and got caught by the pads of his feet for a brief second until I could reverse the door. 
• He had a bowel obstruction which required an mind-numblingly expensive surgery.
• He got in a cat fight (he won) and had his ear torn.  He still wants to fight any cat that dares to come in our yard.

Lately his age has been showing and he can no longer jump high, or see as well.  He doesn’t mind Joey, but wants nothing to do with Mitzi, and sleeps about 20 hours a day.  But he’s still got some fight and spunk.  He loves to wrestle Keith.  He will crawl into bed with me after Keith gets up and sleep next to me under the covers (though he’s NOT affectionate, putting his paw on my arm is all I can hope for!).

We will wait and see what the diagnosis is on Wednesday and we plan to keep him around as long as he’s eating and fiesty.  I’m not sure we’ll do surgery to remove his jaw or radiation/chemo.   But can I just say this SUCKS?  Normally I try to keep positive until there’s a confirmed diagnosis (or a confirmed problem) but today, I’m just so very sad.