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Tag: pandora

Pandora (1994-2009)

Stairs
Pandora
February 1994 – 08/08/2009

Sometime yesterday morning we lost Pandora. We knew it was a matter of time since the suspicion of liver cancer found last November, but it still took us by surprise. She had gone through a few days of not eating much, but had been doing much better. Necropsy showed that there were definitely tumors in her liver, which had hemorrhaged.

Pandora was the last of our pre-relationship cats: Rob got her from a shelter when he was in grad school. She was always a grumpy cat, but when she felt like it she was very affectionate. She will be missed.

Gummi Bears inside my head…they're chewing on my brain.

The bad:
We had to go out on Black Friday after all – vet appointment for Pandora. She’s eating, but not well, and her hair is seriously thinning – we found a bald patch. Worse, it looks like her diabetes is back as well as a UTI. The meds that have been helping prevent recurring pancreatitis exacerbate diabetes, and are probably responsible for her hair loss. On the other hand, they help her want to eat. Usually. The UTI is just a fabulous bonus.

Also, one of the nose pad things on my glasses broke off. I’ll go to the vets on Black Friday, but no way in hell I’ll go to the mall. Maybe I’ll get it fixed after school on Monday.

The good:

Pandora scarfed down the food the vet recommended, asks for scritches, and vocalizes frequently. Hopefully she’ll continue to feel all right.

Our Thanksgiving turkey, though a day late, was wonderful. Marry a man that can cook, mama always told me.

But guess what? We forgot to put out the cranberry sauce again this year. :D

Old Cats

Pandora has been not feeling too well lately – not eating, diarrhea, poor grooming. She’s only lost a little weight, but feels thin, and just frail.

She’s had several health issues over the last few years. She was diabetic a few years ago (cats apparently can “get over” diabetes – at any rate, she only needed insulin for a few months) and lately has had bouts with pancreatitis and UTIs. Anyway, to try to find out what’s going on we had her in for an ultrasound today.

There’s a good chance it’s liver cancer – there’s good size nodes in her liver, and some fairly deep where it would be problematic to get them if we went that route.

At this point, we’re just trying to make sure she feels as good as possible – difficult to determine, because she’s always been a cranky, solitary cat. She is eating much better this past couple of weeks, since the vet put her on some anti-nausea meds. She also comes out more often for scritches, or just to lie in a sun spot, which is a definite improvement.

So for now, just watch and see how she does. If she was younger, or had been healthier, we’d probably consider surgery; as it is, the risks of surgery coupled with recovery would lessen what quality of life she has.

Hopefully, she’ll be around for a while longer. Pandora is our last “pre-marriage” cat – sqlrob got her from a shelter when he was in grad school.

This sucks.

Pandora at Vet

Originally published at Jen’s Corner. You can comment here or there.

Seinfield post

So. It’s Day 5 of NaBloPoMo and already I’m at a loss for something to post. I’m gonna blame it on having class today and not getting home until late afternoon, and on being up way too late last night. :D

You know, lots of times I think “hey, I should post about that” but then I never remember to actually do it. I ought to make notes or something. It’s not like I don’t have nifty gadgets to do it with.

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Rob’s birthday was today, so he wanted Thai. He’s also off the rest of the week, so we might go to the zoo tomorrow. If it’s nice, and also if Pandora eats ok. She’s been… iffy on eating. She’ll eat fine one day, and refuse food the next. She looks fragile and slightly scruffy – and we’ve been in to the vet several times. I hope she’s going to be ok – she’s pushing 15, and hasn’t been in the best of health.

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So, I’m kind of the non-moderator for a political email list that’s been around since 1994. It’s called NoRules, which means I don’t actually “moderate” it at all, it’s just that I’m the one that finally bitched and nagged enough to get them moved off of “reply to all” onto what finally wound up as Yahoo Groups. It used to be a really good group – interesting, lively, and informative. Now – well, it’s not as bad as a YouTube comment thread, but it’s all the same the same the same – I could pop in there any time and it’s the same stuff from the same people and it’s usually just crap. I only mention it because I made the mistake of reading a couple of emails tonight. Someone forwarded the Michelle Obama/Lobster thing tonight. //shakes head// That’ll teach me to look at it.

Maybe I’ve changed.

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I’m sitting here at the computer and Fred is wedged between my back and the back of the chair, with her front legs just draped over the arm of the chair and her head hanging over it. She tends to reach for things on the desk, so I have to keep moving them out of the way. Every once in a while I reach around and scritch her belly, which is really all I can reach, and she purrs.

It’s late, and soon George will come in here and meep at me. They are quite certain about when I should go to bed.

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Well, there’s 400+ words about nothing interesting at all!

I win!

Aha! There’s George. ‘Night!

Originally published at Jen’s Corner. You can comment here or there.

18 years

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The first part of August was pretty sucky for us. Mai-lyn had been having a few days where she was not at all happy – not eating, not grooming, not, well, moving really. She got through that and seemed to be feeling a lot better, but the tumors on her belly were getting still bigger, and beginning to ulcerate. She wasn’t going to get better. It was only a matter of time, probably only months, before the cancer in her lungs killed her, and before that she’d have more and more bad days. I just didn’t want her to suffer. So, two weeks ago I let her go. Dammit, I put off posting about this because I knew it’d make me cry. Guess I didn’t wait long enough.

At the end of that week we got her ashes back, in a pretty cat shaped ceramic container. It’s really nice. Now I just need to find a safe place for her.

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Naturally, at the same time Pandora seems to have developed IBD and decided to quit eating for a few days. This led to the beginnings of hepatic lipidosis, which almost required a feeding tube. Thankfully, after some subq fluids, and juggling some meds, she started eating again. She’s been eating like a little piglet, in fact, so now we have to make sure her diabetes doesn’t flare up again. Still, that’s much easier to deal with than a feeding tube.

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As if that wasn’t enough, Max had to get in on the act with a sinus infection. He’s more forgiving than Mai-Lyn, so it was much easier to give him his meds.

Intent

So now, everyone seems pretty much fine (knock wood), although we still have to keep a close eye on Pandora. All I can say is they’d better be, because I start school next week, and I have spent more than enough time at the vets.

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