PASSIONATE RATIONS

Aspergillus.

Ever heard of it? It’s everywhere, though you can’t see it.

It can float in leisurely through a window screen and it often contaminates starchy foods like bread and potatoes.

I don’t think that’s where my little cat picked it up though.

Somehow, it got into his sinuses and is killing him.

Humans can get this too—though, as with other animals, it usually becomes infectious only in those with already fragile immune systems.

I thought taking my little guy to Tufts Veterinary for their recommended treatment (inserting catheters into his sinuses and dousing them with anti-fungal medication while he was under anesthesia) might help. But instead it seems at the moment to have done more harm than good, as he’s experienced nasty complications (respiring fluids into his lungs, causing aspiration pneumonia. He had to be on O2 for days).

I am now distraught, thinking that in trying to help him I have hastened his demise. I haven’t slept for two nights, working to make him as comfortable as possible and trying time and again to get him to eat, to drink, just a little, but he has no interest after several days. I’ve offered him everything from kitten food to canned tuna to prosciutto.

My hope as I write this is that this will be the day, that we’ll finally move towards recovery. That when I return home from work today he will not have lost yet more weight, yet more vitality. He seemed a bit more chipper last night—if only….

My fingers will be crossed as I walk in the door.

I find that typing this somehow soothes me, so please send your good wishes. Maybe, like Tinkerbell, he just needs that to recover.