A problem-solver in trouble
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Phantom finds a neat, if wet, solution to his problems with drinking
AS I enter Phantom’s room, I find a surprise – a mini-flood all over the floor. The elderly cat is completely wet too, as if he’s been lying in all that water.
The water has obviously come from all the water bowls I’ve put out for him. They’re all tipped over. Phantom’s certainly been busy.
A few days ago, I noticed he was having trouble drinking. He didn’t seem to be able to lower his head. He finally lay on the floor and leaned his head into the bowl to drink.
Phantom already suffers from arthritis in his hips and the beginning of his tail. Perhaps arthritis has started in his neck and shoulders.
I increased his arthritis medication and brought in many more water bowls. Each bowl is a different height, from a tray that he can reach by lying on the floor to a huge bowl that he can reach while he stands up.
Obviously, none of the bowls has pleased him, since he’s knocked them all over. Then I understand. The bowls were perfect, until he drank from them. Then the water level dropped, and the only way he could reach the water was by knocking the bowls over and drinking from the floor.
What a problem-solver!
I’m feeling very bad for the cat. He’s been rather ill this year, especially from the tumour in his mouth. Even his eye infection, which I thought had cleared up, has returned.
The vet tells me that with the steroid treatment, the tumour has shrunk, and I’d like to think that we’ve solved Phantom’s health problems – but we’re not so lucky.
The next day the boy begins vomiting his food even before he can chew it. At the clinic, the vet finds that the tumour has returned. Worse, the boy has accidentally bitten it, causing a terrible infection right on top of the tumour itself.
He must be in terrible pain, and he looks very thin. The vet keeps him at the clinic to give him antibiotic injections and to increase his steroid doses.
How I’d love to have that tumour removed! This is a nasty tumour, though. You remove it, and it will grow back, larger and more painful.
I think: “It must have taken at least two years for that tumour to grow. Even though it would grow back after surgery to remove it, Phantom would have some time to be free of pain.”
The veterinary surgeon offers no hope. Remove the tumour, he advises strongly, and it will return much more quickly and much worse than what it was before. Besides, under no circumstances should Phantom, at his age, endure any surgery, especially one that will cause him so much pain and discomfort.
The hits keep coming. The pain in his neck and shoulders isn’t arthritis, the vet says – it’s in reaction to that tumor. Even his eye is inflamed in reaction to the invasive growth in his gum.
After the infection clears up, Phantom returns home. He has difficulty eating dry food, but wet food, especially when I add enough water to turn it into a soup, delights him.
The steroid treatment continues. As a result, his thirst and his appetite increase. He hasn’t chosen a water bowl he likes yet, but gradually the flooding has lessened, as long as I make sure each bowl is always filled to the top.
His grumpy nature is changing, though. This evening, when I come up to give him his daily brushing, he suddenly jumps into my lap. This cat who has refused to be a lap cat for the two years I’ve known him has decided to be cuddled.
He wants comfort, I think. Perhaps he’s even feeling better. It’s a bit of good news in such dark times, yes?
