Prancing amongst the artichokes

What I love about Alberto the vet is that when three paw hunkers down and flattens her ears, he doesn't become wary or nervous or bothered. He generally has a laugh and strokes her head and talks to her affectionately but in a normal voice. I admire him so much. His specialty is oncology and it must be so hard journeying with these animals through their treatments until the day comes when the road ends and he is the one who administers it. Often vets don't spend that much time with people's pets but in his job he needs to be more invested and  so I am grateful that he exists and he is with us right now.

The last week was tough because one morning I found a pool of blood on the floor with a little drippy trail to where Three Paw was. I might add she was sleeping soundly so whatever violence had occurred it didn't seem to be troubling her. I was worried she was trying to tear part of the tumor off which would be a big indication of pain but Alberto thinks because it happened so soon after the last chemo it was probably the necrosis of part of the tumor. This is not a bad thing so I was relieved by this news.

Her tumor is getting bigger though. The metastasis is about the same but I can see the one on her leg growing. This was always going to be the case as the cure for her type of cancer is amputation which is what happened to her seven years ago. Alberto and I really did think about amputation. He did research and I contacted a family in Portugal with a cat who has only two legs. Neither of us was afraid of this option as cats adapt very well but because she had metastasis already it would have meant amputation followed almost immediately by chemotherapy. It might have bought her a few more months but the metastasis was present so I made the heart-wrenching choice of having less time with her but enabling her to enjoy the garden on her own for as long as she could - this would have been very difficult if she was down to two paws. I remember sitting in Alberto's office and saying between tears. 'Her name is Three Paw not Two Paw'  and him nodding to me compassionately with gentle, chocolate eyes.

Naughty explorasaurus

Sometimes as I see the sand shifting through the hourglass, I have second thoughts but then I see her ambling into the long grass and I feel heartened by her freedom. In fact so free is she that she even managed to do her old trick of disappearing into a neighbouring garden four doors down. No easy feat given it means jumping a fence, climbing logs, ploughing through shrubs before climbing about 24 stone stairs. It took me two frantic hours to locate her with Pirate howling from the wall ' She's gone, she's gone.' Fortunately the village is used to me prancing through their artichoke garden in my pajama pants with a harried look on my face. Now the neighbouring gardeners don't even blink an eyelid, they just wave a hand and say 'prego.'

I told Alberto about her escapade and he had a good laugh. We both agreed this was a cat with some fight still left in her legs.