I took Racky in for an extra check-up today, because I've been worried about his eating (and not-grooming).

The good news is his mouth is fine. But he has lost a kg in the last 5 months. (He hasn't been doing anything much except sleeping and travelling to/from the food bowl/litter box.)

The growths on his legs are becoming larger & ulcerating. The vet lanced the softest one, which ejected a lot of mucous material and then started bleeding profusely, so there is now a bandage on that leg as well. But it may have taken some of the pressure off.

Added to routine:
- change dressing
- clean around claws
- remind cat to eat several times a day.

Racky in for his annual checkup this afternoon.

Weight down to 5.1 kg from 5.75 kg at the end of March

Has picked up a heart murmur. Possibly an entire conversation.

The vet who saw him today is going to talk to the vet who investigated his lump/kidneys before deciding whether to have him in tomorrow morning to try and take his blood pressure / prescribe medication that might keep him going a bit longer.

Other than that, still full of spirit and amazing for a 20 year old cat.

What I ought to do is line up a video to dub and then go and do the dishes or somesuch. Right after I make a pointless post :)

~~~
An emotional afternoon yesterday didn't leave me in top for for gaming, and the session suffered. It was however a lesson in just how potent highish (11th) level casters can be against an army of mooks - who would have thought a large air elemental can hoover up and spit out 42 medium creatures a round? The opposing orc horde didn't get within 20' of the fortifications supported by the PCs, although some of that was due to me forgetting stuff. I also should have had a better idea of the visibility (or lack thereof) and used that - the fact it was night was sort of handwaved.

The hill giants soaked up a few fireballs, but the orc general being dropped to his death from 200' in the air pretty much ended things.

So D&D unstructured mass combats - it's not necessarily how many casters you have on your side (the orcs had a number of 5th level clerics), but who can cast the biggest spells soonest which makes the advantage. A more disciplined force might have pulled back and waited for the short-duration spells to expire before renewing the assault.

~~~
Racky update - front lump is also a 'benign' tumour.

Apropos of everything, instead of making 3+ separate posts
( day off, BumpTop )
( cat )
( neverwinter )
( SOEs )

The vet called me back this afternoon.
- They were unable to make a useful analysis of the sample taken from his front leg - too much blood etc contamination from the sample taking procedure. Good news - retest is free.

- The lump on his back leg is definitely cancerous. Some unusual kind of cancer which forms in or off connective tissue - ligaments, tendons, possibly bone. They can't tell if it's particularly malignant and will need to xray him. I was more concerned by the comment that he didn't appear to notice the needle etc when they took that sample - a lack of sensation in his hindquarters would match up with the increasing difficulty I've noticed in him getting them to go where he wants them to.

- So he's booked in for another sample from the front lump and x-rays of the hind leg and as-much-of-his-spine-as-I-can-convince-them-to-take on Thursday morning.

Racky's kidney function has gone from 'fine' when he had his dental 9-odd months ago to 'decreased', based on the blood work before his planned operation this morning. The vet wasn't willing to anaesthetise him for fear of further damaging the kidneys, so he still has lumps (looking much bigger and uglier after shaving :( ), kidney-friendly food ($$) (lets see how long he keeps eating it) and a big bag of fluid + apparatus to introduced it under the skin a bit at a time over the next few weeks (apply needle to cat then keep him still for 2-3 minutes. Fun).

Vet did take some samples of the lumps via needle so we'll see what the results of those say in about a week.

Last week I noticed a hard tight lump on Racky's front leg. It was showing no sign of going away so this afternoon we went into the vet to get a professional opinion.

The vet didn't think it was an abscess and didn't want to poke it too hard but thought it needed to come off, although that's tricky in that area because there's not a lot of spare skin to sew back together over the wound. She also found another lump, softer, on his back leg (also tricky).

So Racky will be going back in for surgery on Thursday. They may decide to only take a needle sample of the back leg in the first instance, but the front lump will be removed. The vet will clean his teeth up a bit while he is under, so that will save me an expense at his annual checkup, but still looking in the realm of $500 by the time the lumps are tested.

And of course Wednesday will be a hungry cat night.

Weight: 5.75kg - still dropping slowly.

~~~
I'm coming down with some sort of lurge myself and didn't sleep well last night at all.

Came to alertness to the sound of the cat throwing up on the duvet, to discover he'd just managed to stealth crap on the bed as well.

Having put cat out vigorously made my way to the kitchen for paper towels to discover more cat shit on the kitchen floor.

I did not need this sort of start to the day.

The cat just walked over my keyboard and managed to hotkey-lock-out the trackpad. Restarting didn't help - lcky I know enough about navigating windows without a mouse to find the settings and turn it back on.

Why is this happening @ 2 in the am? FaceBook status sez "Marsden is waking from dreams that most would consider nightmares. Sometimes being an emotionally disconnected individual has it's advantages."

Racky spent the morning at the vets, much to his disgust.

The diagnosis is a fall or possibly a minor stroke, given the sudden onset and recovering function.

We have anti-inflammatories (for the sore leg) and mineral supplements (for the arthritis), return visit in 2 weeks.

Racky is using his leg a little more this morning - at least he can makeit one end of the house to the other without complaining although he's still not putting a lot of weight on it. So I'll put it down to a twist or sprain & hold off on the vet.

~~~
Yesterday was mostly taken up by a trip out to the farm to housekeep my sister's laptop, which meant I didn't get over to the games day :( There was a small monetary windfall though, which sort of made up for it.

~~~
I was planning on watching Hogfather tonight (courtesy of DVD from codym, but things just keep getting added to the errands list so I think I'll have to postphone it in favour of game prep / photos.

Racky has been having issues with his back legs for a while. This morning one of them was just not working.

I carried hhim to his foodbowl, which he attacked with gusto, and he seems to be recovering some use now. I'm hopeful he just slept on it. If he's still limping after I get back from the farm there is a vet appointment in the near future. And possibly a supply of plastic sheeting.

Cheerfully headed for bed after watching Colour of Magic last night (and looking forward to part 2 next week).

Discovered the cat had vomited on the duvet at some point during the day. Kind of ruined my mood.

Vet just called - Racky has survived his dental (including removal of yet more of his few remaining teeth) and she has also determined that he has broken his jaw at some in-determinant point in the past.

... this does mean he got to keep some other teeth that she was considering taking out but thinks are probably OK, because she didn't want to aggravate the 'fibrous join'.

Update on what that all cost later.
~$330. At least he was sedated for his extraction.

Return visit in 10 days, antibiotics in the meantime.

Sore mouth in no way stopped him from tucking into the food bowl as soon as I put something in it.

Racky is going in for dental tomorrow morning. So no food after 8pm this evening.

It's going to be a long night....

The cat has a well-fleshed chicken carcase, and hes still complaining at me.

~~~
Heard from the panelbeaters this afternoon - parts hopefully arrive on Tuesday, then they can start actually fixing. They're doing the door separately as a private job :-/

~~~
It's really quite warm, but I've lit the fire to get some heat in the place and warm up the blocks for winter.

Racky seems to have accepted the new bed, although I sometimes see him peering off the edge as if wondering why it's suddenly so much farther to the floor.

Wasn't definably better or worse. I felt a bit lost actually - I can comfortably sleep on half of this thing (which was part of the point after all :D ). Chiro says it takes about 2 weeks to get used to a new bed.

It's definitely cosy. You just sort of sink into it a bit.I may need to do away with pillows entirely though.

Racky is not impressed, contrary to people's impressions. He spent some time exploring and then elected to sleep in the lounge last night.

~~~
I infer from the general temperature inside this morning that the new windows and curtains are doing their job. Just needed to get the house up to temperature first. I suspect I am not going to have lower power bills, but a warmer house for the same money is just as good.

Have to put a dehumidifier on the shopping list though. Flooding on the non-double-glazed windows. need to get rid of some ambient damp. Priced some at the warehouse yesterday - not cheap :(

...from next door has becom bold (or desperate) enough to try and bail me up in my own kitchen.

( gratuitous pics )

This means
a) I can now stop worrying that my chance to bring some young lady home will come while my bedroom is open to the street
b) More relevantly, I shouldn't have to rearrange the furniture again for at least 8 months!