Franken-kitty

For all of you who know Tim's kitty Sprout and have followed her cancer journey - we have updates on her health. For those who don't - here is a recap:

Here is super healthy, pre-cancer Sprout

Pretty little thing isn't she?
In this photo, she had already had one mass cell tumor removed from the back of her leg (a couple of years before)  This was the day before the first eye surgery - you can see on her left eye (right on photo) a bald spot starting on her lower lid where the tumor is sitting. It's super small on the surface - but too big to ignore underneath.

Post eye surgery #2. One was not successful and her whole eye had to be removed to spare her life. She was pretty mad needless to say, but she adjusted very quickly. She was back to patrolling the neighborhood within a few months. She no longer brings us her big kills but she does still catch the occasional lizard.

We have gotten so used to her with one eye, that we no longer think she looks weird. Still beautiful as ever!

Unfortunately, with in a few months of the ye surgery, we found another tumor on her ear.

She ripped the stitches out immediately and had to have staples. 

Not at all thrilled with the cone - it lasted for about a day before she maneuvered out of it!

As we were going in to remove ear staples, we found another tumor on her back right leg. 

Still our sweet, snugly girl despite the stitches.

A little bit of a shave down to make the tumors easier to find. 

Again - time to remove leg stitches, and we warn the Dr. of a few more tumors.
After taking her back for a thorough check, the Dr. finds 8 new tumors. 

She ripped the stitches out in three places and had to go back for more staples.

The evening after the staples - she took her pain meds like a champ and turned in for the night!

To date, including the eye, she has had 14 tumors removed.

It's crazy to us how she can be so riddled with this disease and yet still so sweet and happy.

 She is constantly purring and bouncing around harassing the dog. She does want to snuggle more than normal and she is a bit more needy, but generally she acts just like her normal self. 

She can't go outside just yet but she has had no trouble transitioning to a litter box in the garage.
We have been asked many times now, at what point do we stop having the tumors removed - well, as long as they are where we can get them, we will get them.
We know there will come a day that they show up internally and we will be helpless to do anything, but until then - I feel like she trusts us to care for her and so we will do just that. She is a loyal and loving little kitty and we are blessed to have her as part of our family.