Some bad, some cute
It has been a very long couple of weeks. I wish I could say that all my stress is due to school but it isn't. We found out a week ago that Bomber is dying of cancer.
Bomber is my little mush cat with only one eye and one hip (long story). I got him after my kitty Xanadu, who was my first kitty that was mine, passed away back in 1998. I figured since Xanadu was a mutt, I would get another one. The shelter I went to gave me a hard time because I had a cat that was declawed (mind you, I got it from that particular shelter) but it wasn't going to stop me. I walked around meowing, seeing who was going to respond. Two kittens did: a little white female kitten and a little black male one. As I went closer, I noticed that the black one only had one eye. When he was brought in as a tiny baby, all the kittens from the litter had developed ulcers on their eyes. His was so bad that he lost the eye. The volunteer told me that nobody wanted to adopt him because of it. I took him out of the cage and held him. He immediately started making happy feet and I knew he was mine. The volunteer seemed to forget that I had a declawed cat. :)
Over the past month I noticed him losing weight. We call him "Fang" sometimes because one of his fangs sticks out a little (you can see it just a smidge in this picture. All of a sudden we could see both of them. I knew something was wrong so I took him to Dr. Country Bob. After an exam, he found a lump in his belly and then did an x-ray to make sure it wasn't a foreign object (we've already had one kitty eat a door stopper). When Dr. Bob confirmed it was a tumor, my heart just sank. We lost Ayla a little more than a year ago to some nasty cancer. I don't know if I could go through it again.
We don't know how long Bomber will last. I would love him to make it through the holidays but it all depends. It seems to be an aggressive tumor considering how quickly he lost the weight. Dr. Bob is giving him cortisone shots to help with the inflammation and make things more bearable for him. He seems to be responding well to the shots so we'll see how it goes.
It was bad enough with the stress from school but this brought me over the edge. I've been feeling my depression kicking in big time since I got the news. However, yesterday, driving home from work, I had a depressive episode. Basically, I just couldn't stop crying. When this happens, the best thing for me to do is crawl into bed after taking some major Klonopin which is what I did. I hated taking another sick day from work but I was in such bad shape I'm thankful I even made it back home.
Today wasn't much better for me but there was a ray of hope.
When Bomber was diagnosed, I thought that we would not get another cat. We have nine for pete's sake. However, as the week went on, I realized what a hole Bomber is going to leave in my heart. He is my "comfort cat." He curls up with me at night and lets me cuddle him like a teddy bear. Whenever my depression acts up, he is there for me. I thought about getting a shelter cat but the past few shelter cats we've gotten have turned into huge spaz-monsters.
Bear and I have talked about getting a Ragdoll kitten for a few years now. They are described as being huge mush cats. I figured that was what I needed so I started doing some research. However, after about three hours of searching, I couldn't find any places withing three hours driving distance that had kittens or planned future kittens. My heart started to ache but then I finally found a breeder just up the road from us. She had kittens ready to go home immediately. Both Bear and I rode up there on Wednesday but I was doubtful I would find the "right" kitten for me. Boy was I wrong. After picking up a couple of kittens, only one stuck with me. Actually, he fell right asleep in my arms. We put a deposit down on him and picked him up this evening.
Ya, I'm nuts. But welcome Nermle to the family:
Bomber is my little mush cat with only one eye and one hip (long story). I got him after my kitty Xanadu, who was my first kitty that was mine, passed away back in 1998. I figured since Xanadu was a mutt, I would get another one. The shelter I went to gave me a hard time because I had a cat that was declawed (mind you, I got it from that particular shelter) but it wasn't going to stop me. I walked around meowing, seeing who was going to respond. Two kittens did: a little white female kitten and a little black male one. As I went closer, I noticed that the black one only had one eye. When he was brought in as a tiny baby, all the kittens from the litter had developed ulcers on their eyes. His was so bad that he lost the eye. The volunteer told me that nobody wanted to adopt him because of it. I took him out of the cage and held him. He immediately started making happy feet and I knew he was mine. The volunteer seemed to forget that I had a declawed cat. :)
Over the past month I noticed him losing weight. We call him "Fang" sometimes because one of his fangs sticks out a little (you can see it just a smidge in this picture. All of a sudden we could see both of them. I knew something was wrong so I took him to Dr. Country Bob. After an exam, he found a lump in his belly and then did an x-ray to make sure it wasn't a foreign object (we've already had one kitty eat a door stopper). When Dr. Bob confirmed it was a tumor, my heart just sank. We lost Ayla a little more than a year ago to some nasty cancer. I don't know if I could go through it again.
We don't know how long Bomber will last. I would love him to make it through the holidays but it all depends. It seems to be an aggressive tumor considering how quickly he lost the weight. Dr. Bob is giving him cortisone shots to help with the inflammation and make things more bearable for him. He seems to be responding well to the shots so we'll see how it goes.
It was bad enough with the stress from school but this brought me over the edge. I've been feeling my depression kicking in big time since I got the news. However, yesterday, driving home from work, I had a depressive episode. Basically, I just couldn't stop crying. When this happens, the best thing for me to do is crawl into bed after taking some major Klonopin which is what I did. I hated taking another sick day from work but I was in such bad shape I'm thankful I even made it back home.
Today wasn't much better for me but there was a ray of hope.
When Bomber was diagnosed, I thought that we would not get another cat. We have nine for pete's sake. However, as the week went on, I realized what a hole Bomber is going to leave in my heart. He is my "comfort cat." He curls up with me at night and lets me cuddle him like a teddy bear. Whenever my depression acts up, he is there for me. I thought about getting a shelter cat but the past few shelter cats we've gotten have turned into huge spaz-monsters.
Bear and I have talked about getting a Ragdoll kitten for a few years now. They are described as being huge mush cats. I figured that was what I needed so I started doing some research. However, after about three hours of searching, I couldn't find any places withing three hours driving distance that had kittens or planned future kittens. My heart started to ache but then I finally found a breeder just up the road from us. She had kittens ready to go home immediately. Both Bear and I rode up there on Wednesday but I was doubtful I would find the "right" kitten for me. Boy was I wrong. After picking up a couple of kittens, only one stuck with me. Actually, he fell right asleep in my arms. We put a deposit down on him and picked him up this evening.
Ya, I'm nuts. But welcome Nermle to the family:
Comments
Dad and Mom
Welcome home, Nermle.
Welcome to Nermle.
Tavi, Cody, Camie and Miss Jade