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| A handsome senior stray cat from Eunos area |
Lucky is a really cute cat who unfortunately was found to have a lump in his neck. Alice his rescuer got him to the vet, where the tumour was excised.
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| Where a tumour once was |
Shortly after, he was found to have another tumour under his lower lip. Because of the location of this second tumour, it could only be biopsied, not removed. Removing a tumour from his lower lip would mean his jaw needs to be resized as well, a huge surgical endeavour with a lot of post-surgical stress.
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| The growth in Lucky's lower lip |
Lucky was no longer suitable for living on the streets, because he would need monitoring and care that only an indoor environment could give him. Alice heard from our pet transport vendor about our foster space that provides intensive care for sick and injured strays, and it was timely that we had a slot for Lucky. He came over, eased in well, and now is so happy living here! Some cats really don't enjoy being confined but Lucky shows no indicators of stress, and doesn't even want to do anything except nap and sometimes roll around in his cat suite.
We waited about 3 weeks or so for the biopsy results, and in the meantime treated the pain he was experiencing. Because we did not want to traumatise him with oral medication that might hurt each time we feed it, we opted for painkiller injections. We also give him steroidal injections whenever his lip starts bleeding, because he will not let us touch it to medicate topically. In his food we give him homeopathic painkillers every day. He doesn't like the taste of some supplements such as curcumin which is an anti-inflammatory, but he is okay with other anti-inflammatories like colloidal silver.
He wasn't keen on eating at first, but with pain management he got to greediness. We also discovered he cannot say no to chicken soup. It isn't soup as we humans know it, his is just plain old chicken stock without seasonings, but if he doesn't get his soup he actually complains with meows and an occasion of bowl-flipping in impatience (soup was late that day). Both Elaine and Foster Care Volunteer Rashid take turns to boil up batches of chicken stock for him.
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| Lucky greedily eating chicken soup |
After a long wait, his biopsy results came back, and the tumour was found to be non-cancerous! Which was good news of course. We then discussed pain management options with our vet, and we are continuing with injections of steroids and painkillers whenever necessary. Vet says we should administer natural painkillers and anti-inflammatories as well. So, that's everything that Lucky was already on from the time he came to us.
We would have reported Lucky's story earlier, but we wanted to share his biopsy results and what we would be doing for his comfort. Every story of illness or injury, should have a happy ending.
It is not entirely impossible that the existing tumour will turn cancerous. If it does, we will still take care of him, making sure he is comfortable, stemming the growth of the tumour, relieving his pain. Euthanasia will only be considered when his basic living functions of eating, drinking, moving about, and using the toilet are no longer present and not likely to return.
But that is going to be a while away. We love having Lucky with us right now. He is a portly old gentleman cat who really seems to like living here. Thank you, Lucky!
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| Lucky chilling out in his cat suite |
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