Cosmo Update

Cosmo, so brave and such a good boy about all he has gone through!

Hello everyone! I know it's been forever since I've written about the babies, but life and work often get in the way of doing the things we do for sheer joy. Everyone is fine, generally speaking, though Cosmo is still plagued with his ECG. Sophie continues to thrive, in her own special way, and actually allows some grooming. I love her dearly and she alone sleeps with us each night (with the two "big cats" downstairs as they have been since we got them in 2008) And Star (aka "Sissy") is as always, my good big girl. She is kind, fun, loving, and sweet.

Sophie, my little "wild child" She's such a joy!

But, back to Cosmo and his rodent ulcer. One major setback we have had is that we lost our vet Dr. Derby who moved south to be with her husband. She was wonderful with us as we began this journey with Cosmo last October and I feel her absence keenly. As of now we will take Cosmo to Dr Coburn who, as luck would have it, owns a cat who also gets rodent ulcers. Her cat gets over them with shots of prenisolone though, I sure wish our Cosmo did. It's hard for me to look at his disfigured little lip, and I know that this at the very least bothers him as well. I hate to think that it causes him any real pain, that is too hard for me to imagine. So, next week we take him in to have blood drawn and to have what is called a "Heska" test done . This test may determine any allergies he might have and best case would allow us to have a serum created that we could give him (via injection) to control his allergic reactions. I am hopeful, but only reservedly so.

Sissy takes good care of her baby brother.

If the testing doesn't reveal anything specific then what I may do is find a temporary home for him with someone and see how he reacts in another environment. In a few cases rodent ulcers have quickly resolved when a cats' location was changed, and I guess if this happened with Cosmo we would have to seriously consider finding him a new, and for him, healthier place to live. I pray it never comes to that, but I cannot simply watch his lip erode away. I feel completely helpless sometimes, but never hopeless!

I'll try to keep you all updated on this continuing "saga".

The three "babies" on the stairs in a rare moment together :-)