Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to our 18 year old cat, Telly. Telly has been a part of my life since 2003, when my late husband and I rescued her from the parking lot of KTUL-TV.
She was "Mom" to any new face we brought home. Most recently, Nicki treated her like Mom, and the two cuddled a lot over the summer.
Within the past month, Telly started to paw at her mouth a bit when she would eat. We thought she was getting food stuck. It turns out, it was a mass. Thursday, she started leaving her tongue out, and started drooling. It was worse by Saturday, so we took her to the vet, and they said she had a mass, probably cancer, and it would grow quickly. They thought she had some inflammation and swelling in her mouth as well, so they gave us some medication to help with that.
Sunday morning, she wanted to eat and drink, but we realized that she couldn't get her mouth open at all to eat and drink. The mass had sealed her mouth shut overnight. We decided we were not going to let her starve to death, that would be a painful way to go, so we had her put to sleep yesterday. She was happy and purring until the end. She lived from 2000 - 2018.
When we went to the shed to get the cat carrier out Saturday, there was a young gray cat that was in our back yard. She ran into the old barn, and we managed to coax her out. She's actually very friendly. We took her into the vet in a separate carrier with Telly on Saturday. Her blood and poo tests came back normal. No microchip. She was probably dumped in the area, people dump unwanted animals here all the time. We were going to foster her until we can find a good home, but I think we might be attached.
I decided to name her Uhura. We tried keeping her in a dog crate so the other cats and her don't fight. Somehow, last night, she managed to escape the dog crate twice. The crate was still closed, so I have no idea how she did it. She escaped to get into bed with us. I guess she really likes us.
Hertz has fully recovered from her back surgery. She is allowed to wrestle and play and be a cat again.
In non cat related news, I produced and directed a special piece about my friend, and Oklahoma Watercolor Master, Monte Toon. He talks about his 50 years of art, while he painted a picture for us. I'm proud of this piece. It will air Thursday night on RSU-TV, Channel 35 in Tulsa. Friday morning, you can find it on rsu.tv.
Thanks everyone. Have a good Christmas/New Year. Ours will be a little dimmer without Telly.