Misty Grey

I did some research, ran my findings past my old vet and a friend who has some expertise, and chose a new vet down here.  I was pretty happy with my decision, they weren’t too far from home, had some encouraging credentials, multiple veterinarians on staff, a couple of live-in felines, and a very friendly warm attitude.  And online recommendations had nothing but good things to say.

Misty’s appointment was today and they decided to try an X-ray.  The vet is very nice and she just loved Misty.  Of course, what’s not to love?

The X-ray shows the growth, and also a spot where it touches the bone of her leg that looks like there is damage to the bone.  The vet seems to be pretty sure that the best thing for Misty would be an amputation, but I am having a hard time with that. We don’t know what we are dealing with. And Misty seems just fine.  I’ve noticed that she sometimes flips her right front paw sideways when she sits in “sphinx” position, in what I call “half cat-loaf.”  I think that since the growth is along the back of her foreleg it gets in the way when she tries to lay it flat.  But she is clearly not in any pain, and she doesn’t limp or shy away from being touched on that leg or the lump itself.

Misty likes “helping” me work, she cleans all the hair ties off my desk!

You can see the swelling on her right foreleg a little bit in this photo.  She doesn’t seem to care about it or be in any pain whatsoever.

The drive down to Florida was long and not too difficult, and pretty much uneventful.  I stayed overnight in Raleigh, NC at my friend’s house.  It was so hard to leave the next day.

Here is the text of my post from Day 1 of the drive down:

Brief stop for rest room and gasoline. Cats are fine, I’m fine, car is fine. My African violet and aloe are NOT fine… Misty sat on them.  I left two seats clear for the cats but neither wants to sit on a seat apparently. Alley is crammed underneath my seat and Misty has been alternating between my lap, the console, and apparently my poor plants. I just did some rearranging – there is now floor space for Misty and I set my mangled plants on the seat she isn’t using.

And a photo of Misty on Day 2, looking so gloomy.  The aforementioned mangled aloe can be seen in the background too.

The next day Misty’s leg looked much less swollen, which I thought was an encouraging sign.  Maybe it was an infection after all, and it was just a scratch or bite that the neighborhood bully cat had given her.  But after a few days it still hadn’t gone away completely, and what was left felt solid and… hard.

The cytology came back the following week.  There was no information – the sample was mostly fluid.  They couldn’t find anything in the fluid that suggested cancer or infection though.  The doctor had taken the sample from what we could best guess to be the center of the swelling.  After the antibiotics brought that swelling down some, the actual mass was further down toward her foot than where the sample came from.

At this point I had to decide whether to bring her in for another try at the cytology, or a biopsy, or what.  To complicate matters I was moving from NY to FL. My house was all packed up and my plan was to get into the car Wednesday Nov 6 and start my drive down to FL early that morning.

After talking to the vet we decided since Misty was not acting like she was in any pain and my money and time were very tight due to the move, I would continue things down in Florida.  And that would give the antibiotics some time to work if they were going to.

Came home from work and was cuddling Misty before heading over to friends’ house to help them with handing out candy to Halloween trick-or-treaters, and when I was rubbing her leg I noticed it felt strange and thick.  She wasn’t limping or acting like she was in pain but I was alarmed that it might be an abscess or infection.  The vet’s office was open late that night – I called them and they kindly scheduled an appointment for that evening.  I expected them to give her antibiotics and send us home, and everything would be all better.  As the doctor examined her she looked more and more worried and I came to the realization as I think she was trying to decide how to break it to me that this might not be something simple and easy to fix.

The vet took a fine needle aspirate to send to the cytology lab.  And just in case, they did give her antibiotics too.

She was a good patient kitty before the examination.  Afterwards, not so much:

This is her “Take me home, or die, I don’t care which” stare.

I still made it to my friends’ house for some late dinner afterwards… but the trick-or-treaters were all gone by that time.  But it was for a good cause, my sweet Misty.