![[text]](http://ilind.net/images_2014/harriet-12-17-2014.jpg)
“I’m feeling something I don’t like.”
These aren’t words you want to hear when one of your cats is being examined.
It was Harriet on the stainless steel examination table late yesterday afternoon as our primary vet at the VCA Kaneohe Animal Hospital, Dr. Ann Sakamoto, carefully felt her abdomen, using both hands to squeeze and probe.
“It’s a large mass, free floating, not attached to the liver or kidneys,” she said, concentrating on what her hands were telling her.
The look on her face told me the whole story.
My face must have shown that I understood.
Cancer.
Harriet, the cat also known as Ms. Harry, is dying in slow motion, and there’s not much we can do. We’ve been dreading this moment, with a house full of geriatric cats, but didn’t think that Harriet would be the first to hit this point.
I had taken three cats to VCA for a 5:30 appointment. Toby and Kili were primarily there because each had several thick, gnarly, and almost ingrown old-cat claws that I was unable to trim, and needed to be cut by someone with more expertise, experience, and it turns out, better tools. Toby, who yowls and fights whenever I try to put clipper to paw, didn’t go down without a fight. He had to be wrapped in a towel and held in place to accomplish the claw clipping. Harriet, while unhappy, yielded to medical authority was far less feisty.
I took Harriet along just on the chance that this time around, unlike several earlier rounds at the vet, we might find the cause of the light appetite and fussiness that she’s shown for the last year or so. Back in July, she was licking the fur off her stomach and the backs of her legs. And those earlier rounds of exams and tests hadn’t beend able to pinpoint a diagnosis or a cause.
From her behavior–appearing hungry but often backing away from offered food–I thought perhaps she might have a dental issue that we could deal with. And it turned out that she does have a sore spot on her gums, way in the back of her mouth.
But Dr. Sakamoto pointed out the obvious. Yes, there’s a small dental issue. “But that’s not what has caused her lack of appetite and weight loss,” she said.
Harriet is nearly 15 years old. Surgery is, in our view, not really a realistic option for an elderly cat.
I don’t know how much time she has. The newly found “mass” couldn’t be felt in July but is now large and obvious to the educated probe. That sounds to me like it’s growing rapidly.
Dr. Sakamoto cancelled Harriet’s blood test that we had planned on doing. No more diagnostics needed in light of the latest diagnosis.
As we were leaving, three cats back in their carriers, she offered to make a home visit, if we choose, “when the time comes.”
So we now consider Harry in hospice care. We’ll try to find food that she will eat, and will respond with attention when she starts her routine of digging into piles of mail or other papers, or knocking over selected items found on counters.
I had described this behavior to Dr. Sakamoto before she started her exam, saying that it was as if Harriet were trying to communicate something, and we just didn’t understand what it was. It was frustrating for her and aggravating to us. Now, when she does this kind of thing, we’ll respond with lots of positive attention. Maybe at some point we’ll add some pain relief. We’ll just have to play it by ear.
Harriet was one of four kittens we found in Kaaawa back in September 2000 while walking with friends in the morning. They took two of the kittens. We adopted the other two, Harriet and Lizzie.
Lizzie disappeared when she was just a few years old. It was a very painful episode for us. Harriet managed to survive.
Now we’ll dredge up our happy memories of her while we enjoy her remaining time with us.
Here’s one of the memory aids, a bit of video taken soon after Lizzie and Harry joined our household.
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Those two with thick, gnarly, ingrown old-cat claws are not actually your cats. They are actually disguised scorpions, newly escaped from Guam. Or from Channel 2.
meat baby food – and gravy from cat food like Friskies – were the only things our cat with mid-body cancer would eat. and yes I would open a whole can of cat food just to feed her the gravy! our cat’s cancer grew slowish – she lasted about a year on gravy and baby food and evaporated milk and sometimes a bit of KFS chicken. we used pain meds lightly toward the end. when we could no longer interest her in food at all we let her stop eating and drift away. with luck Harriet will not suffer much and I know she will appreciate extra attention in the time she has left with you
We’ve been doing the baby food and Friskies, but hadn’t thought of just pushing the gravy. And evaporated milk is another great idea.
Thanks so much!
-Ian
Big hugs to you, your wife and dear Harriet.
I have a black and white/gray stripey named Umi who is 17-1/2. He never lets me sleep past 5:30, and he’s my confidant, my protector (seriously) and he knows my limits. We have E.S.P. While he’s now half the weight he was (7 lb.) I know one day I will be where you are now. I’m real thankful that he’s made it easy for me. I hope Ms. Harry lets you know when it’s her time and that it’s an easy transition.
So sorry to hear the bad news. Poor Harriet.
This is very sad news!
Harriet’s long life was the exception on Oahu for a kitten born ” feral “. Please do not ever mourn her when she leaves this earth. She was soo lucky. She really was and your kindness and commitment to her will bring you nothing but good things.
Recently we lost our Ted Bundy. He was a feral cat that came into our lives in 2006. He started losing weight in June and went rapidly down hill. I made a deal with Ted that I would not put him down if he kept purring. He purred up to the last hour of his life. It was 1:00 AM as we lay on the bed, he wrapped in a beach towel on my chest, when I believe he went into a coma, just stiff, then at 2:00 AM he jerked, let out a long breath and was gone. My boyfriend and I cryed til dawn. We mourned for 2 months, then our transient neighbors found a kitten and when they went back to LA asked if we could keep him. We named him Freddie Krueger. Another little kitten appeared on our door step, so we adopted him and named him BB. Nature abhors a void.
Cindy is right. Harriet has had 14 good years with you. Otherwise it might have been a few weeks or at best years dodging disease, dogs, cars and hunger. Would that all such feral kittens would find such a home as you have provided.
I’m so sorry, Ian. Harriet is so lucky to have spent such a full life with you, Meda, and a house full of fellow felines.