Got a bit of bad news concerning Lucille in the past few weeks. A week or three ago, I noticed a strange lump on her belly when I was petting her and checking for such things. (It took me a few months for her to consent to being touched anywhere other then her back, now she lets me pet her pretty much everywhere.)

From re-reading my cat care books, this could be anything from a benign tissue growth up to and including mammary cancer. It's inside of her right rear leg, right near one of her nipples, so I took her to see the vet yesterday. So I've been stressed all week and not sleeping well. On top of working 60+ hour weeks, plus side work, plus the normal day to day stuff, this wasn't a good time.

She was not happy about being put in the cat carrier! Round one went in her favor as she freaked out at the last second and raked me pretty badly as she made her escape. After washing out my wounds, we went for round 2. While she didn't growl or spit, she was meowing at me in a very complaining manner. I finally got a hand underneath her with the other on her scruff and she then went meekly into the carrier on the second try.

I didn't know what to expect when we got to the vet. Would she turn into a hellion with teeth and claws everywhere? Given that she was a feral cat as a kitten, there was a strong possibility of that. Or maybe she would struggly wildly. So I warned the vet and he had a nurse come in to assist. We just cracked open the cat carrier, slipped a rope around her neck, and the nurse picked her up while I moved the carrier out of the way.

I was surprised when she didn't cry at all, but just went into a little tense ball of unease. Tail curled under the belly, ears about halfway down, but no vocalizations or struggle. She wasn't thrilled by the situation, but wasn't totally panicked either. The nurse didn't have to do much more then keep her flat against the table with a hand on the scruff of her neck.

So they poked and prodded her, but they couldn't find the lump at first. So I had to show him exactly where it was (it's roughly grape sized). At first, he wanted me to just keep an eye on it, but I convinced him to at least draw a needle sample for analysis.

They took her into the back room for that, then the nurse brought her back. While we were waiting for the vet, I got out her brush and gave her a few strokes. That got her to purr a little bit.

The other (elder) vet came in, and they both poked and prodded her for a bit. While the mass is free moving, they felt that because of its proximity to mammary tissue, the fact that she may have gone into heat once before being fixed, and that it may be connected to the mammary glands that it's best to take it out. While mammary cancer is unlikely in a young cat, it's not unheard of. It's also extremely nasty (as in survival time measured in months).

Now, Lucille doesn't show any signs of ill health (other then a bit of gingevitis around the teeth). She's still bright eyed, perky ears, and runs around like a young cat would. She loves to be brushed and petted, and will pull your hands or the brush towards her with her paw for more.

So I'm giving her lots of extra attention this weekend before she goes into surgery on Monday morning. She finally forgave me for the vet trip after about 6 hours of hiding under the bed yesterday. Hopefully, I'll have better news when I pick her back up from the vet on Monday evening.

I'm not sure what the surgery will cost, but my pet insurance should pay about 80% of it. So I'm not overly worried about that. Or at least, I don't have to worry about not being able to afford the surgery. If there's going to be chemo/radiation treatments, then it's possible that I'll have to make a hard decision (my level of insurance probably won't pay for that).

The office visit was only $55, which is a very reasonable price. They didn't charge me for the needle sample since I'm going to be bringing her back for full surgery anyway.

Worst case, if it's mammary cancer, I'll probably end up just monitoring her health. If she starts to get ill and in a good bit of pain, then I would choose to put her down.