My old pal Stanley was diagnosed last week with a malignant tumor in
his spine.  A fast moving cancer they told me.  They weren't kidding.

About 2 weeks ago I started noticing a slight changes in his behavior,
eating habits and the way he was walking and holding his tail.

It's been a roller coaster.  I made an appointment to bring him in.
Two days later cancelled it because he started perking up.  Two days
later he started to go downhill again, made another appointment.  Two
days later cancelled it because he was acting normal.  Two days later
he started to go downhill again, made another appointment and kept it.

This is normal when you have geriatric cats.  They have good days and
really bad days.  They can crash quickly.

His blood work came back remarkably normal for a 17 year old.  The bad
news was the way he was walking.  He was dragging his left hind leg and
he could not lift his tail.  They gave him subcutaneous fluids, B
vitamin appetite stimulant and a steroid injection.

I was told if I did not see an improvement within 6 hours, then it's
something other than arthritis, most likely a tumor on the spine.

He was doing good for 3 days.  This morning he was not doing so good.
Didn't eat much, moving very slowly, dragging his left hind leg, no
interest in his surroundings and wanted to be alone.

I come home from work tonight and he's worse.  Walking even slower and
very wobbly on both hind legs.  Gave him baby food with an appetite
stimulant.  He ate all of it.  Went to his bed and has not moved since.
I keep checking on him giving him a pet and a kiss.  He just looks at
me with very sad eyes and purrs.

So, is it time to make the dreaded euthanasia decision?

This all happened so fast.  A month ago he acting like a crazy 17 year
old kitten.  I've had a lot of cats, but never a screwball like
Stanley.

I adopted Stanley in January 2002 at the age of 13.  He was abandoned
at a local vet clinic.  The owners told them they were going on
vaction.  It wasn't a vacation, they moved out of town.

Stanley had a lot of health problems ($$$$$$$) as his previous owners
never took him to the vets.  He had 7 teeth in his mouth, he was deaf,
had black lips and had 2 weird crinkled up ears.  But he loved life.
He was the nuttiest cat I have ever owned.  A perpetual kitten up until
a month ago.

Two and a half years ago, he had to have an ear amputated due to a
cancerous tumor on his ear.  That ordeal is a whole other story.

Of course, I hoping Stanley will be better tomorrow morning.  But it
dosen't look good.  I will post some pictures of Stanley on ABB.

Thanks Mr. Burner, you arrived just in time.

Thanks for letting me tell Stanley's story.