Our cat, Tabitha, has a growth on her face. It’s about the size of a large, cultivated blueberry and it looks, as the vet so eloquently put it, “ugly.” She needs to have surgery, next week, to have it removed.
The dreaded C-word has not yet been uttered, but the vet did use the word biopsy and that’s enough to make a worry-wart like me go off the rails.
I know that Gracie gets most of the face time around here, but Tabitha has been my kitty and near-constant companion for seven years now. I love her with that fierce kind of love that only comes from seeing her grow from a tiny puff-ball to a 10.5 pound cat while she slept on my pillow. Tabitha has been in my life since my junior year of college and she’s helped to keep me happy and sane through intense loneliness, intense craziness, intense breakups and all of the other intensity related to being an angst-ridden young adult.
Tabitha loves yogurt, she loves sleeping on Kristian’s head, she loves having her face scratched until she doesn’t love it anymore… and then she’ll bite you. She even loves the dog, but that’s just because she knows she can hang out with Gracie and the other cat won’t jump on her head.
I asked the woman at the vet’s office how much the surgery will cost and she said someone will have to call me with an estimate. Which, I’m pretty sure, is vet-speak for, “you might want to apologize to your credit card in advance.” I’ll pay it, even if it means I have to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day for the next year.
Hopefully, removing the growth is just a precautionary measure (the vet said that the combination of its size and location means that, even if it is benign, Tabitha will probably start scratching at it soon). I’m really hoping that this is all just a blip and that we’ll soon be back to watching her show the dog who’s boss. Tabitha doesn’t seem like this is bothering her at all. We haven’t seen any behavioral changes and she hasn’t lost any weight since her vet appointment a couple of months back.
I’m probably just being a worry-wart because, hey, that’s what I do. But this is my kitty and I love her and I really don’t want to be faced with any hard choices. So, if you could all think some good thoughts for my kitty, it would be much appreciated.

Good thoughts coming Tabitha’s way. 🙁
Oh, boo. I don’t really like cats, but I don’t like to see them suffer!
Poor Tabitha 🙁 My thoughts are with you!! Hopefully she will be okay and treatment/surgery won’t cost you an arm and a leg…
Poor kitty! I hope everything is OK.
I feel for you and Tabitha. Will keep good thoughts. Let us know!
Awww, poor honey. 🙁 I hope Tabs is okay, and I’ll send healthy kitty vibes your way.
im thinking lots of good thoughts for your kitty!
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