I guess when it’s your time there’s no cheating it. Some of you have been following my feline family from the beginning of aroudustyroads.

Back in September  2011 Smokey had his first health scare. You may remember a series of posts around that time. ( http://aroundustyroads.com/2011/09/15/smokeys-home-from-the-vet/)

I’m happy to say that we’ve been able to keep his enzyme levels stable. In March of this year Smokey had his annual physical. He’d lost weight so we ran the blood panels and did a full work up. Everything was  ok and we went home with instructions to use more Senior Diet cat food and move him to a bi- annual check up. That was 30 days ago.

This past week has been extremely busy but even so I noticed Smokey was either curled into a little ball or following me around. He had to be next to me all the time. Also, he didn’t seem to be grooming himself. His fur never used to get knots. In fact, he used to groom so much that it became annoying because it sounded like he was “slurping”.

To make matters worse he insisted on sleeping in bed with me.  That would have been fine but he wanted to have his face nose to nose with me and he had the worse case of bad  kitty breath I’ve ever smelled. Neither Rocky or Buddy have bad breath like that. I became concerned that he might have an abscessed tooth or something. I had seen an episode of  My Cat from Hell where the cat they were working with had bad breath and the diagnosis was cancer.

My vacation is right around the corner so I thought I’d better get Smokey in sooner rather than later to have his mouth checked. I was really hoping for an infection.

The first thing they do is weigh in. In the one month since his annual, he had dropped another pound! From a 14 lb. cat at his prime he was down to 9 lbs.  When the Vet joined us she cuddled Smokey a minute and confirmed that she smelled his halitosis too.  She pried his mouth open and immediately let it close again. She didn’t even have to look close. He has a large, angry, red growth under his tongue.

She pried his mouth open again so I could see. It was huge. Even I could see it. My first question was, is he in pain? She said it was hard to tell. She said at first glance it appeared to be a sarcoma. She wanted to sedate him to get a better look and if necessary do a biopsy.

I was numb but gave her the go- ahead. Once  Smokey was under she called me in to show me. Even a layman like me could see that it was a nasty growth. It looked like something out of a text book on cancer.

The Vet explained that this is a very aggressive form and can show up seemingly overnight. Cats use their tongue to eat and drink and eventually this will prevent Smokey from being able to do that.  This type of cancer is resistant to treatment and has an 85% chance of recurring. Where it was located would mean they couldn’t remove it surgically because they can’t cut out the tongue.

Smokey may have a week or he may have a month. It all depends on how fast the tumor grows. If he begins to exhibit signs of pain, we’ll give him pain meds but as long as he is eating and drinking I will let him live out his days. Softer food is easier for him so the Vet suggested picking up some baby food.

I don’t know what kind of life Smokey had before he came to me but I know he’s had a good life with me. He’s made it to the ripe old age of 17. I guess that’s a pretty good run.