Brooke and I aren’t particularly lucky with cats. Our first baby boy, Loki (the kid I’m mugging with in my blog photo) died of bizarre brain seizures. Now our little girl, Natashcha, is suffering from a mystery bone ailment.  Thankfully, Brando, our other boy, is strong like ox.

It began when we noticed  Natascha  only using three legs to walk. We brought her into the vet last night, thinking she may have sprained her paw wrestling with Brando. Because that dude is large, in charge and has periodic spells of jerkitude.

Sadly, the vet examined her in the very room in which we recently put Milla down. That cat belonged to my ex, Leda. She had been our dear kitty for years. It truly sucked.

Anyway, back to our present shit situation. The doc said that Natascha might have a sprain or a hairline fracture, and instructed us to bring her back the next morning for X-rays. Which we did.

I just got a call from the vet saying that she’s got bone degeneration in her wrist. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be repairing itself. Possible causes may include viral or fungal infection (rare) or bone cancer (also rare, particularly in a one year-old).

A piece of her bone was removed, and is being sent to some lab for further testing. This takes 1-2 days, meaning we probably won’t know until early next week what the next course of action should be.

Thankfully, she isn’t in too much pain; she just doesn’t use that paw to get around. But I wonder: what are we supposed to do if it’s bone cancer? I can’t bear to watch her suffer, but I’m tired of having to euthanize these poor little creatures.

So that’s today’s fun.

On a happier note, ex-Burlingtonian Brad Searles made the mother of all James Kochalka Superstar posts over at Bradley’s Almanac.

UPDATE:

Thanks for the comments… Isn’t this supposed to be a music-related blog?

Natascha is all doped up on doggie painkillers, (for real – that’s what they gave us) and is having a blast. They’re non-drowsy, which means she’s mobile. But I’m woried, ’cause she thinks she can run on her bum paw. But I’m glad she’s happy.

We saw the X-Rays, and could totally make out a weird grey area over two bones in her wrist. The doc doubts that its cancer, but she’s also never seen a fungus of this sort before, so who knows?

The bill was like, $500, though – yikes.

We’ll get the tests back from the lab soon.

Other than that, things are OK.

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Casey Rea was the Seven Days music editor from 2004 until 2007. He won the 2005 John D. Donoghue award for arts criticism from the Vermont Press Association.

8 replies on “Bad, awful, shitty rotten luck.”

  1. Casey, I’m so sorry to hear about Natashcha! Millie, Colby and I are sending positive kitty healing vibes her way. Keep us posted on her progress, and we’ll keep you, Brooke and your feline family in our thoughts…Lisa and the Coons of Grand Isle County

  2. Oh no… oh you guys. Fuck. I’m so sad to read this. I’m glad Natascha isn’t in much discomfort. I know how hard it is to wait for results – I remember climbing the walls waiting to hear back on whether Bea’s skin lesions were benign or malignant a few years ago.Anything, anything, anything we can do to help or support, please let us know. No matter how big or how small. We have fingers and toes crossed and are knocking all available wood hoping for good news!

  4. I don’t want this to come off as sounding insensitive because it’s a serious comment. Could the vet ambutate the leg to stop it’s progression? We had a cat that fell out of a tree and dislocated it’s hip. So, the vet reset the hip and then taped the leg to the cat’s body. It was like that for a few weeks but our cat managed surprisingly well on three legs. It was a rear leg and Tigger would just sort of use her one good rear leg as a pogo.Is that an option?

  7. aw man! I hope everything turns out okay… i’m sorry to hear your kitty’s having a rough time…I’m thinking nice things in her (and your) direction.best,colin

  8. Dammit. Kitty injuries suck. I hope it ends up being not as serious as it could (not to state the obvious or anything). Needless to say, best wishes.

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