Thursday, October 30, 2008

My Cat

If you don't like cats or pets of any kind - this post will be boring and I suggest that you lurk elsewhere.
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So, I've had a cat (of my very own!) since May of 2007. Ghost was my wedding present - my stray cat wandered up on our porch and I convinced Cliff to let me keep him wedding present. From that first moment he has been a loving (slightly poopy) cat - perfect except for the occasional need to buy carpet cleaner.

In July (scroll down and you can see a picture) I came home one day to find Ghost with a swollen eye. After taking him to the emergency vet, we came home with antibiotics, a steroid gel for his eye, a topical ointment for the yeast infection in his ears and flea medicine. Whew. He got better.

Skip ahead to September. Ghost has been lethargic and eating less. I start to worry - Cliff tells me to take him to the vet. I did. I was expecting that it was just a cold or something and then the vet called me back - Ghost tested positive for Feline Leukemia. Terrible news. Well... it could be. Growing up, I had a cat with Feline Leukemia who lived till the ripe old age of 13. So - it doesn't have to be a death sentence. The vet gave me antibiotics and steroids for two weeks. We took the cat home and gave him his meds and I hoped for the best. Except that one day I came home and the cat's tongue was hanging out of his mouth. Weird. Feline Leukemia is serious enough that any disease can be life-threatening so I took no chances and took him to the vet again on the following Monday. More bad news ensued - the cat still had a fever and his anemia was worse. Meaning: he is probably in the late-stages of FL which means he has months instead of years left to live. I was totally devestated.

The vet told me that transfusions are possible for cats but highly risky. And frankly, we couldn't afford that. We opted to try one more round of antibiotics and steroids but I started preparing for the inevitable: putting Ghost to sleep. Halfway through the second round I called and talked to the doctor about Ghost's eating habits (or lack-of) and he ordered me some supplement gel to give to him twice a day. His round of medicine ended on Monday and I took him into the Vet today for a check-up. Lets just say I was totally dreading the phone call with the vet report.

Well, the Vet called me about 12:30pm. His red blood cell count should be at 24 (that's healthy) and the first time I brought him in his count was at 15. The second time (with the hanging out tongue) his count was at 13. Today - his count was 18!!! HOORAY!! The doctor is giving me another round of antibiotics and steroids, but for the first time in over a month, I can hope that Ghost will recover. So, now I'm going to try to bribe him with different kinds of food to get him to eat and try to get him to gain some weight back.

I know that some of you have been praying for me and I appreciate it so much.
I'll keep you updated as i can.

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