Cheba
Several months ago, we received a call from a shelter in another state about a very sweet cat they were holding.Cheba was adorable (as you can see) and very friendly.Unfortunately, when she first arrived at the shelter, they discovered that she had several mammary tumors.
Mammary tumors in female cats are invariably found to be malignant.The shelter had Cheba’s tumors removed and biopsied, and sure enough, they were cancerous.The shelter was uncertain whether the cancer had already metastasized (the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another), which is a big concern with this type of cancer.In any case, they knew that mammary cancer commonly recurs that this would make it very difficult to adopt out Cheba.Alhtough they loved her dearly, they were out of options for this poor girl.
Fortunately, someone suggested they call Tabby’s Place and we were able to add Cheba to our waiting list.Given this, they were willing to hold on to her for the months it took for her slot to become available here.Once Cheba arrived, we had her x-rayed to see whether the cancer had spread.We were thrilled to find out that there was no evidence of metastasis.
Although Cheba is very friendly with people, she proved to be surprisingly aggressive with other cats.In fact, she was so aggressive that we had to move her into Suite A, reserved for aggressive cats.This turned out to be a good move, as she is thriving in that suite.Despite the lack of metastasis at this time, the fact that she had mammary cancer means that Cheba is prone to a reappearance of this cancer.We have our vets check her often for signs of new tumors and she is x-rayed every few months to look for metastasis.
We hold out hope that someone may find it in their hearts to adopt dear Cheba.But we know that her chances are slim, given her medical history.