Vet said it looks as if she had a new hemangiosarcoma mass in her liver that ruptured, and she bled internally. We were told this might happen, and we wouldn't know until it was too late. We didn't know. And it was too late.
Photo taken two days ago.
Rest in the arms of Bast.
Trance and Loki both had lumps removed a week ago Saturday. Samples were sent off to pathology.
Trance has hemangiosarcoma (HSA) is a cancer that arises from malignant blood vessel cells and is an uncommon cancer in cats. It is a very aggressive cancer that spreads (metastasis) early and is associated with a poor prognosis. The underlying cause of HSA is unknown. Vet said it was just bad luck, because it's usually in dogs, not cats. And if it is in cats it usually in light furred outdoor cats, and Trance is a dark furred indoor cat.
I haven't been able to completely stop crying. First it was Ziggy, then Keito, and now Trance? Three different types of cancer, each of them 'bad luck'? I feel as if my heart is being crushed.
Sometimes, I just can't get the right leg comfortable enough to sleep well through the night. Was up at 4:43 am (checked my watch, so know the time is right). Let Keito and Loki into the back yard to 'dig holes in the sand'. Checked on Ziggy, as she and Trance had another dust up yesterday. Once again, Trance was on the losing end of things. Ziggy is ok, though.
Fed them all around 5:30. Keito got his insulin on time. Ziggy, from having to groom self after the fight with Trance, hurked up her food. Of course ON the sofa. (Preen OxyAction to the rescue) There was a HUGE clump of fur. After I cleaned it all up, she demanded to be fed again. Tossed some things into the washer, and they are currently hanging out on the line.
Knee feels a bit thick and stiff this morning, but there was no sciatic pain.. at first. But when it showed up, it did so with a vengeance. Immediately did the routine Matt gave me. First five.. gritting teeth. Second set, not so bad. By the time I had finished the 3rd set of five, the pain was manageable. Have taken pain meds, and the anti-inflammatory.
One really doesn't appreciate the absence of pain, until it hammering away at you.
Last year, Trance went into total panic mode when we brought her into for physical and vaccinations. So, to save her the panic, we scheduled to have the vets come out here for her. They said "Well, we can do all the cats' exams at the same time."
They just left. Vaccinations given, exams given, Keito's blood drawn for testing. Trance did panic a bit, but no where near as much as she did at the Vets' office. She settled down and just voiced her complaint.
Ziggy was her usual. Sat there there until done. Healthy moggie.
Loki is a bit overweight, but that is because he keeps sneaking up behind the others and finishing what the left in their dishes, the oinker.
For now.
I went into my office area, and could hear the steady growling of an pissed off cat. Ziggy. Loki was about 3ft away from her, and she was letting out a steady stream of growling (and for such a tiny cat she sounds very fierce. had deep guttural growl).
Shooed Loki away and spotted Trance's collar on the floor, by the looks of it, torn off of her. In the short space of Wing feeding Ziggy and his ducking it to take a shower, Trance went after Ziggy and Ziggy handed her her ass.. again.
The "they get to live".... I spotted two of my external hds knocked to the floor, the small USB fan I keep going behind the computer to prevent overheating (not that it's really a problem, but why take chances) broken, and cords unplugged.
Took about 2 hours to get everything set up to test. Other than the fan frame needing to be glued together, all seems to be in good working order.
Ziggy finally let me check her out (she was a bit umm smelly as Trance had, shall we say, bladder control issues when she decided to take Ziggy on again.) Ziggy is cleaned and groomed, and I checked her for wounds. Nada.
Now, I have to find Trance and do the same. I'm betting she is sporting some new scratches again.
And is no longer hiding, it's time for her to learn the hierarchy. She has been stalking and attempting to bully Ziggy. Ziggy is the 'diva' here, and Trance has to learn it.
Whenever Trance stalks or harasses Ziggy, she gets a squirt of water from a spray bottle. All three of us have one close at hand. Ziggy will be allowed to growl, and if Trance doesn't retreat, squirt.
Bengals are intelligent, and I'm sure Trance will get the message/training quick enough. But this doesn't mean we will allow Ziggy to harass Trance. Should Ziggy start being the bully, a different chastisement (noise and voice). Again, Bengals are intelligent (for the most part) and I'm sure she will get it through her noggin. :)
Once again, I am up early because of feline behavior.
I heard this low, not quite silent growling, and felt something slowly climb over me, and settle down where one pillow overhung another. The growl got a bit louder. I reached out, and felt a small muscular body, grabbed it and held it close. Flicked on the light, and it turned out to be Ziggy. Her growling grew in volume and I looked around, and there was Trance, slowly slinking towards her.
Since Ziggy was under an 'overhang' of pillow, hiding her from sight, and kept my arm wrapped around her. She quieted a bit. I got up and shooed Trance away.
Tried to go back to sleep, but even though both Loki and Trance weren't in the room, Ziggy kept intermittently growling. So, I tucked a blanket up over her, and then she started purring and dozing off.
Guess she knows who can keep her protected.
Trance is a bit sulky with me right now, as a few mornings ago, I walked up to her, and as she was being lovey, I put a collar with a few small bells on it around her neck. She went nuts. Acrocatics at its best. She's not 100% used to it yet, but she isn't doing back flips, and trying to scrape it off now.
But the upswing is this: Now that Ziggy can hear her coming, and know where Trance is located, she has calmed down enough to stop hiding all the time. Here she is, sleeping out in the open, totally relaxed.
It's not any deep dark secret that Ziggy does not want or even like having Trance in 'her' house. But this is just mind blowing.
I saw Ziggy come into my study. She jumped up on the sofa, and instead of just curling up to snooze, she sat, with front feet not tucked up under her, and staring out the door. Watching.. just watching, ears perked forward.
This caught my attention. So, I watched Ziggy.
A few moments later, I see Trance, kind of walking low and cautious, heading toward the laundry area. I got ready to stop Ziggy from going after Trance, but Ziggy just sat on the sofa.. watching.
Huhwha? I got up quietly to check on Trance, and what greeted me was this: Trance almost getting outside, but for me nudging the laundry basket, she spooked and ran back into the front area of the house.
Ziggy had opened the side door but didn't go outside. Instead she came back into the study, hopped onto the sofa and waited. If it hadn't been for the laundry basket, Trance would have gotten out.
Ziggy couldn't have told Trance to get out any clearer, could she?
Yesterday, with me babysitting, err catsitting, Ziggy GLARED at Trance, but no sound FX, no attempt to attack. Trance deliberately kept her eyes averted because had she had returned the stare, Ziggy would have taken that as act of aggression, and I'm quite sure fur would have flown.
This morning
Keito came back in and like usual, Trance went to go see him (she is smitten by Keito for some reason), and Ziggy came out at the same time.
HISSSSSSSS so loud, sounded like cardboard box being slid across stone floor. I rustled the container/ziplock bag with her breakfast in it to distract her, speaking all sweetness and light to her, distracting her, and no fighting ensued.
Ziggy growled at Loki and he fwapped her for it. Then, later, he grabbed and 'hugged' her.
She growled at him again a few minutes ago, and he LOOMED over her "You were saying?".
Ziggy decided now was a good time to just be quiet.
Was woken up this morning by the sound of rummaging around on the windowsill. I could tell it was Trance rummaging around, because I could hear things being shifted and walked over, but no tag/bell noise which would have indicated Loki or Keito. it's good to know that even with Ziggy attempts at bullying her, Trance is exploring and wandering around the house.
So, sat up, turned on light, see Trance following Keito all around the room. He went into the on suite bathroom, she followed him. He went into the shower stall, she followed him. He looked at me with the long suffering sigh, and walked out of the room, Trance on his heels.
Into the kitchen, chirping, meowing, body rubbing on fridge, cabinets and anything she could touch, she follows Keito. :) Trance will follow Loki around, but not with such enthusiasm. :D The boys are so tolerant. Just wish Ziggy to chill a bit.
"This isn't the moggie you're looking for"
Wing and I were in our bedroom, and we hear cat fight screech noise.
We quickly go out to break up possible dust up and Ziggy, with tail inflated, runs past us. (Gee, think she knew she was being naughty?)
We check on Trance, and she is ok.
So, we go looking for Ziggy.
The little brat of a cat dove back under her blanket/sofa tent, then came sttttrreeetching out as if she had only just woken up (her version of Jedi Mind Trick hand gesture)
"Who? Liddle ol me? Naw, I just woke up!"
Yesterday, I brought out the "Snuggee" blanket. Ziggy was on the cat tower and immediately stood up.
I put it on the sofa, and in less than 10 seconds she had gone under it, curled up and started snoring.
Last night, neither Ziggy or Trance were sequestered in a closed room. And there was no fight or dust up between them.
I guess being warm under her favorite "Blankie" is a larger priority for Ziggy. :)
Trance came to live with us about 2 weeks ago. There were some dust-ups with Ziggy, resident Queen Bengal (queen as in royalty, not breeding). Thinks have settled down, although there are still a few growls from Ziggy every once in a while. Keito and Loki could care less.
Hanging out on the windowsill.
Enjoying some late afternoon sun on the Cat Tower
Seeing as after the entire day, no growling at all. Dirty looks are ok, but no fighting.
Wing said there was a big of growling back and forth last night, but he put a stop to it right away.
This morning, I get up, Ziggy is on the floor, standing next to the altar table, and Trance is perched on my sewing machine cabinet. They're just staring at each other.
No noise, no growling, just staring. I broke it up by feeding them.
We let Trance out of "solitary confinement", and it seemed to be going ok. But I think it was a case of too much open space, not knowing her way around (our bad, we should have shown her where the sand trays were immediately) and it just overloaded her. She 'panic toileted' on an old bag. All cleaned up, but she was majorly stressed out.
She's back in the bathroom, fresh food and water, her cubby cube (aka her sanctuary). Tomorrow, when we let her out again, we will bring her to one room, close the door and let her get accustomed to the area.
It was just a case of too much too soon.
