Thanks Kerry, Buddie was a very special girl, she lived her life on
her terms. She was not a overly affectionate cat and when she got
cancer I was petrified thinking she will never put up with the vet trips
and chemo and all the fussing and handling involved. Buddie had on
occasion tore a vet or two up when they didn't heed my "be careful she
doesn't like being held or picked up", sometimes she didn't even want to
be touched. She would come to you and let you pet her for as long as
she felt like it, then turn and run when she had had enough.
When she got very over weight and had to go on a diet I was worried, she
only ate dry food and that was making her fatter and fatter, I figured
it was going to be hell to get her off it, but she surprised me and
switched without any problem. Once she lost the 6 ounds over a year and
a hlf that she needed to she became a different cat. I still remember
the look of surprise on her face when she jumped from the floor to the
table, something she had not been able to do while overweight. She was
truly full of herself for that accomplishment. She also became more
affectionate. It was about a year after that that she was diagnosed
with liver cancer. She tolerated the vet trips and pokings and
proddings surprisingly well for the first 4 treatments and then she
decided she had had enough and quite eating. It took me 3 weeks of
sitting in front og her every 15 minutes with a bowl of food to get her
eating again, and I promised her we would stop the chemo if she just ate.
She got 3 intravenous doses of chemo which I know helped immensly, and
she was on prenisolone which was the regular treatment for her type of
cancer. Had we continued with the chemo she woud have gotten one more
intravenous dose and then gone on leukeran as a maintanence chemo (given
orally at home) drug.
She lived just over a year after she was diagnosed, most of that time
was very good, and we bonded like never before, she actually followed me
around and wanted to be in my lap, or at the very least in the same
room. It was very special.
In hindsight I maybe would have continued the oral chemo atleast, but at
the time I did the best that I could given Buddies personality and what
I thought she wanted. She put up with a lot more than I ever imagined
she would. And as she had always done, lived and died in her own way, I
wouldn't trade that year for anything :)
--
Belinda
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