Celeste Gets a Second Chance

Celeste’s loving elderly owner passed away four months ago and she had been living all alone at their once happy home ever since, spending her days waiting for someone who would never come back. She was fed regularly by her owner's nephew, but she was shy, reserved and hardly ever left her hiding places behind the furniture. Eventually the apartment got emptied out and Celeste was trapped; her owner's relatives couldn't or didn't want to keep her, so she arrived at the shelter the next day or more precisely, on February 14th.

She's probably around eight years old, but she was still unspayed and although she didn’t look sick, she had bald patches on her back and sides. The vet said it was caused by a combination of hormonal issues and stress and it should resolve itself once she is spayed. 

She also had mammary gland hyperplasia, a benign condition in which an excessive amount of tissue grows, resulting in enlarged masses in the mammary glands; she needed to have her spay surgery as soon as possible and she also had to be tested for FIV and FeLV.

Celeste’s been living in a cage in a separate room from day one, as she might not feel comfortable in the presence of other cats just yet and we’ve been trying to spare her any further stress and upset. As we had no time to waste, she was operated on two days ago and it turned out she was in a lot worse shape than we expected. 

She was initially supposed to have only the spay surgery, but she had multiple mammary tumors which should always be regarded as potentially malignant and the only thing the vet could do was to completely remove both of the mammary gland chains and associated lymph nodes. Celeste endured the massive surgery surprisingly well, but during the night she tore up the gauze bandages and we feared that she would rip out the stitches as well, so off to the vet we went again. Luckily, she hasn’t tried to take off the bandages since; she is being given antibiotics and painkillers and she began to eat yesterday evening.

The bad news is that the long-term prognosis for a cat with mammary tumors is guarded, as up to 65% of surgically removed tumors reoccur within a year. Most of the kitties survive less than a year after being diagnosed with this life threatening disease, although there are always some fortunate ones which are able to fully recover and never have any additional problems. We’ll certainly do everything we can to help her overcome her ordeal, but only time will tell about the outcome. And it could have all been avoided had she been spayed in time…

One way or the other, Celeste’s long and winding journey to happiness has just begun. Please, help us make the rest of her life, which hasn’t been exactly an awesome one so far, as great as possible!