This time last year we thought we had lost our little cat, Winnie. A trip to the vet in August of 2007 gave us the bad news – she had a large mass in her abdomen, possibly malignant. In September of that year she went missing and we thought she was gone for good. Then she came back, terribly malnourished and weak. Then, toward the end of the month, she began to improve.
Now here we are a year later, and Winnie is still very much with us. She is still terribly skinny, despite eating and begging for food all the time. She still has the mass in her abdomen. However, she has lots of life and spunk.
If anything, her quality of life seems much better now after her brush with death. Instead of running from us or any other human, she now greets us with tail in air, and even likes sitting in our laps and being pet. She holds her own against the younger cats, which used to give her grief all the time. She still gets spooked by them and other things occasionally, and when she runs she reaches a level of exhaustion that threatens to undo the progress she has made. She spends much more time in the house, and has started to venture into parts she hasn’t occupied in the past. It has been a drastic improvement.
Even with the progress, we know that this is a limited reprieve. This is still a geriatric cat with severe health problems. Though she doesn’t appear to be in any obvious pain, she is still struggling. We know that the time will come, but until then, we will continue to enjoy her company.