My return from the vet

I'm back from my ordeal at the vet and I'm SO glad to be home! Last night Daddy didn't feed me any food after 8.00 pm and I spent the whole night beside myself because I was STARVING and I pawed and pawed at Daddy's leg and I jumped up on the sofa and knocked things off the bookshelves to get Daddy's attention and I meowed and I meowed but Daddy wouldn't give me any food. So when Daddy got up this morning and still didn't feed me, I could tell something was up, and at about 9.00 am Uncle Kevin scooped me up and petted me and talked gently to me and he carried me closer to my cat carrier and I said "NO!" and I REFUSED to get inside that carrier, but Uncle Kevin finally managed to shove me in, and we got on the tram and got to the vet, and the nurse wanted to examine me, and this time I REFUSED to LEAVE my carrier, but they pulled me out, and then the nurse poked and prodded me and stuck that stupid thermometer in my bum again, and when she was done I made a beeline for my carrier, and I stayed there for a few hours until they were ready to operate on me. And they gave me some anethesia and I fell asleep and when I woke up I had stitches on my left side and a big patch of shame where they shaved lots of fur, and I had a pink bandage on my front right paw where an IV tube had been. And they gave me a special pain-killer called methadone which was a kind that wouldn't affect my kidneys. And the doctors also gave me some food, and I was starving, so I gobbled down a bunch of wet kibble. And at about 5:oo pm Daddy and Uncle Kevin came to pick me up, and we went home on the tram, and as soon as Daddy opened the door of my carrier, I zoomed straight upstairs and went to my litter box in the bathroom and had a big poo. And then I walked into the front room where I have a smaller litter box, and there I had a big pee, and Daddy was silly enough to take my picture:


And then Daddy gave me a scoop of hard kibble and I helped myself:


And then I noticed that my dish of wet kibble wasn't downstairs, so I meowed and convinced Daddy to give me some wet kibble as well. And then I settled down onto the couch on my green pillow and got back to my routine of evening relaxation:


And I have to go back to the vet in 10 days to have the stitches out. And the vet took out a small chunk of that tumor, about the size of a small lump of sugar, and it will take between three to seven days for it to be analysed, and then they'll know whether I need to come back again and have surgery to remove the whole tumor. But until then all I can do is relax and get myself back to normal...

I have to visit the vet yet again!

I had to go back to the vet again last Wednesday because Daddy noticed a lump growing on my back left leg and he had never noticed this lump before and he would know since he gives me a body rub every night. So Uncle Kevin popped me in my cat carrier on Wednesday morning (since Daddy had to work) and took me to that doctor I saw only a week before, and the doctor took out some electric clippers and shaved over the lump, and then he took a needle and did what he called a "needle biopsy" which meant he stuck a hollow needle into the lump two or three times with a digging motion and tried to catch some of the cells inside the needle; but to my great surprise it didn't hurt at all and I didn't make any fuss. And the doctor said that it's not unusual for older cats to get lumps, and some lumps grow very fast (like this one did!), but it's important to find out what kind of lump it is since some lumps can be very bad if left untreated; but other kinds of lumps can be left untouched. And now I have shame on my side in addition to the shame on my neck, so now I look like this!


And the doctor phoned on Friday with the results and said that the needle biopsy showed "spindle cells" which are cells that can show up in "fatty tumors" which are a kind of tumor that is bad if it's not removed. But the needle biopsy was also inconclusive, so I have to go back to the vet again tomorrow (Wednesday) for a different kind of biopsy where they will give me some anesthesia and then cut a small portion of the tumor out so they can examine it. And then, if it ends up being a bad kind of tumor, I'll have to go back to the vet one more time for surgery. So Daddy is being very strict with me tonight and not allowing me to eat anything after 8.00 pm because I'm not allowed to have a full stomach when they give me anesthesia.

And Daddy and Uncle Kevin are naturally very worried about me, but I keep telling them not to worry about me at all, because I don't feel sick, and I have a healthy appetite and lots of energy and I'm not in any pain, so there's no reason for them to upset themselves about what the doctor might find. As for me, I stick my to daily routine of looking at the birds through the window:

and licking myself in the sun at the top of the stairs:


and examining all the orchids that Uncle Kevin brought inside the house last night:

but I was a VERY good kitty and didn't bother the plants at all. So as a reward I get to sit on the Kevin pillow on the night before my biopsy:

Another Trip to the Vet!!

Daddy took me to the vet last week for a blood test and it was awful! I was sitting in the living room enjoying my morning nap when Daddy scooped me up and petted me all over and tried to make me feel all cuddly but I could tell something was up when I saw my cat carrier on the floor and Daddy stuck me inside and closed the door behind me. But I'm an intelligent cat so I knew this could only mean one thing: the vet! So I pawed at the door and begged to be let out:

And I let out the most miserable yowl I could think of:

And then Daddy thought, "Why don't I take a video of Oscar so I can post it on his blog?" But I said, Forget the camera, Daddy, and get me outta here! Please!

But of course we ended up going to the vet anyway. And the doctor took my blood pressure with that awful machine that pinches the base of my tail; and then he took blood samples from my chin, so he had to SHAVE my chin and then he took two needles' worth of blood while the nurse pinned me down. But I was a good kitty this time and didn't channel Gerald or hiss and fight like I did before (although I did wiggle a lot).
And Daddy put me back in my carrier and set me down in the waiting room in front of a glass cage full of kittens that were up for adoption. And the kittens were adorable! Then the hospital cat, Kofi, who's a tuxedo-cat about eight years old, came up to me to say hello, but I wasn't in the mood to have him gawk at my shame, so I hissed at him.
And when I got back home and Daddy sprung me from my cat carrier, I ran straight to the middle of the living room floor next to my toy mouse and took back ownership of my domain (and you can see a bit of the shame on my chin in this picture):

And later that evening Daddy had chicken for dinner and he rewarded me with a chicken treat for all the vet drama I went through:

And after dinner I prepared for my evening nap on the living room couch (can you see my shame again?):

And since that day, things have gone back to normal. Every morning I take a morning nap in the living room in my basket next to my plant (and I usually sleep, unless some busy-body like Daddy insists on taking my picture):

And if the weather is sunny, at midday I hop upstairs to sit in a sunbeam and watch the rainbows made by the crystals hanging in the window:

And when Daddy and Uncle Kevin come home at night, they give me dinner, and then I have my evening nap on the living room couch:


And Daddy says that the results of my blood tests are that my kidney disease is stable, which is good news, since it means it's not getting any worse, so I can sleep without any worrying dreams.

Another Happy Day at Oscar's House

Yesterday was Maundy Thursday here in Australia, which meant that when Daddy came home, he knew he had a long weekend off (since Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays), which means he can spend all weekend spoiling me. And Uncle Kevin will be home, too, so they can spoil me together! But on Thursday night they weren't paying quite enough attention to me, so I had to remind them of their solemn duty to spoil me whenever they're home, and since Daddy was spending far too much time on the computer at the start of his holiday, I jumped up onto the shelf in Daddy's office, and he thought taking my picture with the flash would encourage me to jump down, but little did he know that my eyes would glow with magic:

And I admit I was a little freaked out by the flash at first, but I refused to be intimidated, because it was my plan all along to tease Daddy into standing up and fetching me...

and when he just kept taking pictures, I politely ignored him:

But he finally took the hint and gave me some kitty kibble; and after all that, I had to clean myself:
And then I camped down on my Kevin pillow (which is Uncle Kevin's lap) for a nice long snooze, and when I woke up, Daddy took these adorable photos:

And then today, which is Good Friday, I spent all day getting Daddy to spoil me, and he did an excellent job. I got lots of kibble, and lots of lap time, and Indiana even came into the backyard for a visit and another contest of yowling. And in the evening I spent over an hour on the Kevin pillow, and I ended the day with a drink of water out of the tub:

So that was my Good Friday. Good, yes?