Support The Purrfessor’s Fight Against Cancer (Lymphoma)

The Purrfessor is our silly orange kitty who enjoys spending his days on the top of his cat tree (aka his perch).

In early February, he wasn’t feeling well and we ended up taking him to the kitty ER where they diagnosed him with a partial bowel obstruction. He stayed several nights and received IV fluids, medications, and additional imaging. The imaging identified an intestinal mass that is the core of his issues.

He had open exploratory abdominal surgery a few weeks later at our family vet with the intention of removing the mass, but it was unfortunately too complex to remove. We received a referral for a specialist who said they may be able to do the surgery, pending the results of an abdominal CT, which we had scheduled.

Unfortunately, he stopped eating prior to his scheduled CT. He had dropped more than 20% of his body weight within 48 hours. We took him back to the kitty ER and they had placed a nasogastric tube placed to help feed him. While he was there, it was found that his bowel obstruction had progressed to complete, which is life-threatening, and thus they performed the surgery the next day.

The mass was removed successfully on April 29 and they biopsied the mass itself, as well as a nearby lymph node that was mildly enlarged. Unfortunately, the biopsy of the mass came back as lymphoma (cancer). We spoke with a veterinary oncologist about our chemotherapy options, and she also told us that cats tolerate chemotherapy better than humans. They don’t really have side effects, and rarely lose their fur. We plan to start him on a chemotherapy regimen to try and slow down the progression.

He is currently home and is getting stronger each day! He was discharged home without his NG tube and has been eating and drinking without difficulty. He is even using the bathroom without any problems as well! He is still pretty sleepy, which is expected with everything he has been through.

As much as we would love to cover everything ourselves, we are finding these expenses are adding up very quickly. The donations we receive will go toward his medical expenses, which include the surgery and hospital admissions. Anything over our goal will go towards his chemotherapy sessions!

If you are in a position to, please consider donating to our little boy. Thank you for reading this far, and we hope you will follow his journey on his Instagram! (@the.purrfessor)