Prince Vince

Hi Tripawd mums & dads! 😀

I just wanted to introduce myself and say thank you so much for this forum! My boy Vinny went in for his amputation this morning and his doctor recommended I do some reading here on this site. I am so glad he did! I’ve spent all day reading it, while I wait to be reunited with my fur baby. After spending some time here, I feel extremely encouraged and more confident in his recovery. I just wanted to share a bit of our story, since I feel so inspired by everyone else’s.

We’ve had ongoing testing for about 2 months now with a tumour that presented itself on his hind leg around his lymph node. We started with two needle aspirate biopsies (a few weeks apart), X-rays and bloodwork with no definitive answers at all. But the tumour kept growing. Now, I know cats are good at hiding pain, but Vinny’s attitude and habits didn’t change at all – he was eating, drinking cuddling and using his litter box fine. Until one day last week the tumour seemed to have doubled in size over a period of two days and all of a sudden he was dragging his leg. 🙁

I immediately took him to emergency and they observed him overnight and did a series of punch biopsies. While we waited for results, he started some pain meds, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. The tumour didn’t do anything over the next few days, but he seemed to feel better and was walking around normal again and back to regular habits (which was encouraging). However… results from the biopsies came back yesterday as a hemangiosarcoma – an extremely aggressive malignant tumour. It is more common in dogs, but accounts for less than 2% of all cancers in cats. The recommendation (which we had already discussed) was full amputation of the leg. The doctor got me in super quick, and I dropped Vinny off this morning at 7am. The doctor called me back at 3pm to say the surgery went very well – and also the CT scan did not show any signs that the cancer had spread. (Yay!) It seemed fairly localized, so we’re looking good for now. Vinny will be there overnight tonight, and hopefully he can come home tomorrow, but maybe one more night.

Apparently a hemangiosarcoma diagnosis in dogs is quite grave, and often symptoms don’t present themselves until it’s too late. But according to the doctor, and what I’ve been reading, the prognosis in cats can actually be quite good. There is very little research, because it’s so uncommon in cats, but there was a small study done that showed very promising results, when the the proper treatment is done.  Vinny’s doctor told me that while he’s only personally seen a few cases in cats – their outcomes were all very positive. At first, I was concerned it would all be too much to put him through. But the doctor was very confident that the treatment would be worth it for Vinny and his circumstances. He has also been so helpful in answering every question I have and updating me about everything along the way. 🙂 As well, since I had zero prior knowledge about all this, after reading about how well cats do with amputations – and also with chemotherapy – it has really helped boost my outlook too!

So, I expect he will recover quite well. He’s had a few health issues before and he’s always been very resilient and tolerates surgeries and medications all very well. I just can’t wait to see him and hug and kiss him again. I was hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. I’m just so happy that he will be coming home. I’ve got his cozy hideout all set up for him in my walk-in closest, where he already loves to nap. He’ll be in recovery for a couple weeks, then he will start a few treatments of chemotherapy, which will discourage any more growth of the cancer.

Here’s a couple photos of my boy… He’s 7 years old, about 19 lbs (he’s already working on losing a couple), but he’s mostly just a big fluff ball, with a bit of maine coon in him. He’s definitely a big gentle giant. He loves cuddling and being around people. He also loves to play fetch – haha!

Thanks everyone so much for sharing your stories, and thank you for reading mine. It’s already been very therapeutic and helpful to both read and share.  🙂 xoxo <3

Vinny – Pre-surgery, just hanging out. 🙂

And here he is with his bro (my other boy) Milo 🙂