Cat Update

So, this is nuts. They brought Saraki back in on Friday, rolling her over onto her other side so she could inflate that one lung. I thought she had a collapsed lung as a serious medical condition. I guess if a cat is laying just right, their lungs can just simply "collapse." Part of the whole twisty, bendy, malleable physiology that is one of earth's odder creatures. Well - and this is the part that's nuts (and also another odd characteristic of feline physiology) - whatever the black mass was that they saw; it's now pretty much cleared up.

The explanation? "Cats can do that." They can, apparently, alternately hide and fake the most serious medical issues. So, we've got her back on an additional, second, medication; one that she'd been on shortly after she was diagnosed with a heart condition about a year ago, and her breathing is down to about 20/minute, which is well within normal parameters. Is it still possible that there's something very, very wrong that's still going on and that it's going to rear its head in the next few weeks? The only ways to find out more conclusively what's going on in her body are C.A.T. Scan (for which cats get no discount - I checked), or ultrasound-guided aspiration biopsy. And, at this point, that's not somewhere (financially, or in terms of what our 7 pound, three-legged cat with a heart condition can handle) even the Hyltons are willing to go.

She seems happy & companionable and we're going to continue to enjoy her company for as long as we can.