A tooth in a tumor

I made reference in my last post to a time when my supposedly spayed cat went into heat. For about four days Cleo howled nonstop, pointed her little butt up into the air, and made passes at the dog. When I told the vet about it, she said "she's just enjoying the springtime." And that it probably wouldn't happen again.

Well a few weeks ago, it happened again. This time, she was enjoying the season for a full week.

The vet had me bring Cleo in to do some blood tests. Now, Doc tends to ramble on a lot and toss out a lot of theories, especially in regards to what a cat's issue could be, as they apparently are an enigma to even modern medicine. I usually manage to grasp only a vague sense of what she's talking about. In this case she went on and on about what she must believe to be the common occurrence of finding a tooth in a cancer patient's tumor because a tooth cell somehow got inside a tumor. Similarly, she theorizes, an ovarian cell may have somehow gone AWOL and grown a new ovary somewhere in Cleo's body, where it set up a hormone-making factory that causes her to have heat-like symptoms.

Or, as David and I theorize, maybe the vet just forgot to spay the stinkin cat.

Back in January, I brought Cleo in for her last set of shots. The vet told me to bring her back in February to be spayed. But when I went to check out, the receptionist said I didn't need to bring Cleo back for a year - when it was time for her next round of vaccinations. When I mentioned that Doc told me Cleo still needed to be spayed, the receptionist said Cleo's chart showed that had already been done. According to Cleo's records, she was spayed when she was five weeks old (about a month before we met her and decided to adopt her). The receptionist pointed this out to the vet, who said, "oh yeah. We did do that." When I inquired as to why a kitten would have been spayed at such a young age the vet said it was a clerical error.

To this day the vet insists Cleo WAS spayed, and she will not even entertain the idea that perhaps she's thinking of another cat on the operating table. She's sticking with the tooth in the tumor theory. Yet in her 25 years in the field she has never seen a spayed cat go into heat, and the idea is now so fascinating to her that she told me she has some scientist friends who may want to study Cleo. But she wants to see the results of the blood test first.

It has now been three weeks since I took Cleo in for those tests. I have called the vet's office about five times to inquire about the results. I have not heard back from her. Could it be the results show Cleo is the owner of two healthy, perfectly intact ovaries? Impossible.

By the way, the latest and perhaps final theory about Mazzy's condition is that she has irritable bowel syndome. Which basically means she (and Cleo, for convenience sake) can only eat prescription cat food from now on. The stuff sells for about 17 bucks for a very small bag that can only be purchased from your local vet. Sheesh. But Mazzy has shown improvement.

Several of you commented on my last entry (and I'm sure some of you are already planning to make similar comments on this entry) that it may be time for a new vet. Maybe so. I've been sticking with this one for as long as I have for two reasons: 1.) I was really impressed by how well she treated Callie in her final days. She made her comfortable and really tried everything to save her. When we did have to put Callie down, the vet cried. That endeared her to me. And 2.) because we adopted Cleo through her, we get 50% off all her vet bills. Sweet!

But I'll keep the advice in mind. We'll see how things go on Friday when I have to take Jonas in to check out a newly developed limp.