Last night during our late rounds, we noticed that Corey seemed to be having some difficulty breathing.
His flanks were moving in an unnatural manner and he would occasionally open his mouth to breathe (cats hate to breathe through their mouths).

Potential breathing problems are not something we take lightly, so we rushed him to a nearby vet.
They did a quick examination, confirmed that he was having trouble breathing and rushed him in for an x-ray.

Unfortunately, the x-ray showed that Corey has a large mass in his chest, between his lungs.
The mass was pushing on one of his lungs, which explained his labored breathing.
The vet told us what we already knew: given Corey’s fragile condition, surgery of any kind was out of the question.

We discussed Corey’s quality of life and whether it was time to let him go.
After some discussion, we agreed that as long as he was eating, seemed interested in his environment and was not suffering, we would make him as comfortable as possible, for whatever time he had left.
(Obivously, we have cancelled his eye surgery.)

Corey is back at Tabby’s Place and we have set him up in one of the Adoption Rooms, where he has sunshine and room to walk around, and where it is easy for people to visit him.
Since last night, his appetite is very good and he appears to be comfortable.
We will be keeping a close eye on him.

If you are in the area and have time, please stop by and spend some time with Corey.
He greatly enjoys human attention and we would like to make his remaining time as happy as possible for him.
In any case, please keep our dear boy in your prayers and thoughts.
He is truly one of our most special cats.

As always, I will keep you informed of his progress.