Mom helped me start this blog 6 months ago because for most of 2023, I’ve had a health issue. I wanted to share that information with all of you yesterday, but Mom said that after a late night working the election (she didn’t get home until 11:15) she was too tired to help me write. She also muttered something about me reminding her to get up by 6 AM. Anyway we didn’t post yesterday. Today will work.

Early last January, I developed a cough. It didn’t start out as an everyday thing, but just occasionally. Then the cough got worse. I would cough until I would throw up. Not fun or pretty. Mom took me to the vet, but that was a day where my cough wasn’t bothering me. Mom and the vet discussed that I might have an allergy. Mom said that I reminded her of how she acted when her seasonally allergies set off her asthma. The vet gave her some pills for me to take. I tried to tell her to save her money. There is no way she is going to get one pill into me let alone a daily pill for 10 days. I am proud of my ability to wait a minute and then cough that pill out and leave it on the counter.

Mom read on the internet that cats can have asthma, and that it usually a response to allergies. She also read that the same inhalers that she uses can be used for cats. She even found a mask that covered a cat’s face to allow the inhaler to be more effective. She was smart enough to not buy it! She did use her inhaler to blow it into my face. I didn’t mind, and it seemed to help for a while.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I got worse. I started to gasp for a breath and the inhaler didn’t help. I was one sick kitty. On Tuesday, Mom to me back to the vet. She was afraid I had heart issues. Both she and the vet were surprised that ex-rays showed that my heart and lungs were fine, but that my intestine was irritated (all that throwing up.) That is when the vet said I had some type of obstruction in my throat. Mom said that I didn’t eat birds or chicken bones. The vet decided on surgery and Mom agreed.

The obstruction was a lima bean sized tumor. The vet took it out. 11 staples from my chin to my breast bone and I was ready to go home. Mom cuddled me a lot over the next few days. The worst part was that they expected me to like eating canned cat food. Yuck! All I wanted was my dry kibble. I’ve eaten it all of my life. It tastes much better than the 2 dozen types of canned food Mom tried. Sophia, however, loved that stuff. Now we wait for the pathologists report. That tumor could be cancer.