The Silver Tom - a true cat story by Katherine Roberts

Meow, this is a sad-but-true tale you should tell to all your kittens, particularly if they have white ears.

Earlier this year, a nasty buzzing flying thing stung my ear. It hurt a bit afterwards, but my human cleaned the sore for me and I kept washing my ear with my paw. One must look one's best with so many handsome Toms in the neighbourhood, and I should know. I've had two litters of kittens in my youth, the last litter with two different fathers, before the vet took my queen-cat parts away so I couldn't have any more... don't ask. Suffice to say when I see the cat carrier these days, I hide. Since I'm such a clean cat with a well-trained human, little sores like my sting normally clear up in their own time. Only this one didn't. It grew into a lump.

This is what my lump looked like in May. (I'm scowling at the camera because I like to look my best in photos - you never know if they'll end up on social media one day.) But the lump itself didn't really bother me that much. Why my human had to get the cat carrier out and drag me down to the vets, I've no idea... kittens are not going to come out of my ear, are they? I wondered if they'd mixed up my records with another cat's, but the worst thing the vet did was stick a thermometer up my backside and listen to my heart. He said I was otherwise healthy (which I tried to tell my human when she was stuffing me into the carrier) and to see how it goes - or maybe I misheard, and he said 'see how it grows', because it wasn't showing any signs of going away on its own like he said it might do. He said he could take a sample with a needle and send it to the lab for a test, but apparently that isn't certain to give a reliable result, and anyway their computer system was down that day so they couldn't guarantee the results wouldn't get lost... pheeew, because I HATE needles! They suggested my human bring me back another time for the test if she was worried, and I gladly climbed back into my carrier for the journey home. 

My lump in May

Months passed. It was a fairly typical summer for me with a bit of tree climbing and some sparrow chasing around the bird feeders (one morning I even caught one and left it on the kitchen floor as a present for my human - no idea why she didn't eat it, because it was fresh). Sometimes, part of my lump broke off and bled a bit, and my human had to bathe it for me again, which hurt so I gave her a few warning hisses and scratches to warn her to leave me alone. I started to feel a bit poorly, and the sparrows took over the garden because they knew I didn't feel like hunting. By July, neither I nor my poor human were coping very well. I was off my food, my lump was bleeding every time I knocked it. So back to the vet I went, this time for a scary-sounding diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, or ear cancer. Apparently, it's caused by sun damage... well, sunbathing is one of my favourite pastimes and nobody ever told me about Factor 50! The vet said I needed an operation to remove the lump, but since I'd developed an infection (it's difficult to keep sores clean when you are not feeling very well) they sent me home with some antibiotics.

The lump in July... not a happy cat!

By this time I'd lost a lot of weight and all I wanted was to curl up on the sofa and sleep. My ear hurt like mad when I was awake, and (as all cats know) a good sleep usually fixes things, including the weather if it's bad. Only it didn't fix my lump. Annoyingly, my human kept waking me to push the antibiotics down my throat and make me drink some water or try to tempt me with a bit of food... meeeeooow, no thank you! I even turned my nose up at fresh chicken, which is normally my favourite. She stroked me, cried a bit, and asked if I was ready to go... go where, looking like this I ask you? I could hardly walk and didn't care if I went or stayed. The antibiotics helped a bit, but I still didn't feel much like getting up or eating. After a few days, I heard her on the phone talking to the vet, telling him how poorly I was and booking me in for something called 'peeteeess'. I did not know what that was, but didn't have the strength to fight any more. I just wanted my ear to stop hurting.

This could have been the end of my story, as I'm not a young cat any more. But that night, I had the strangest dream. A shining silver Tom prowled down out of the stars to see me. He sniffed me all over and said how sorry he was I couldn't have his kittens any more. Then he put his paw gently on my sore ear. I yelped because it was HOT and (meowww, sorry!) struck out at him with my claws. But he was already gone, leaving only a warm tingling in my body. My ear stopped hurting, and I went back to sleep. When I woke at dawn, I saw the lump lying on the sofa beside me. I shook my head, which felt strangely light, and a bit of blood dripped out. But I licked the spots clean and staggered to the kitchen for a drink of water.

When my human woke up, she couldn't believe her eyes! She offered me some more fresh chicken, and this time I ate some of it to please her, even though I wasn't very hungry still. Then she put my lump carefully in a little plastic bag and pushed me back into the carrier for my peeteeess appointment. I was too weak to resist. But all the way to the vets, I thought of the silver Tom from the stars who had visited me in the night and hoped they might give me some more medicine that brought handsome Toms in my dreams.

August - after the lump fell off, a bit happier cat but not much.

Everyone at the surgery wanted a look at my lump, which didn't bother me because it was in a plastic bag by then and no longer on my ear. Then the vet stuck a thermometer up my backside and pronounced the infection gone, and because I was feeling a bit better my human said 'no' to the peeteeess so I never found out what that was. However, the cancer on my ear was growing again, so they booked me in for an operation to remove it.

I am such a naive cat! I thought they were talking about removing my lump (or what was left of it). I  thought that would be simple enough, since the silver Tom in my dream had already removed most of it for free rather than the thousand pounds plus the vet quoted my human for the operation. But when I woke up after my sleep-without-dreams under the anaesthetic, I discovered my WHOLE EAR had gone!!!  

I was rather confused, to say the least, and took a bit longer than normal to come round from the anaesthetic. But at least I was no longer in pain, and my lump had gone along with the ear... or so I assumed, as it all felt rather numb up there. I couldn't really tell how much they had removed at first, because the nurse tied a plastic cone around my neck so I couldn't reach my head with my paws... yes, in case you're wondering, we cats do sometimes feel our missing parts are still there, hence my continued interest in Toms long after my queen-cat parts had gone. Now I had a ghost-ear, which itched like crazy, and I wished the silver Tom would come and groom it for me because I couldn't reach it myself wearing the cone.  

Post-op Day 1 - woozy, skinny cat!

The vet told my human I might not be very hungry for a few days, but as you can see from my empty feed bowls in this photo, I was STARVING when I got home and ate everything I could shovel into my mouth past that torture device they call a cone. To make things worse, my human locked my cat-flap, so I spent the first few days crashing into things around the house... ever noticed how cats walk quite close to things, rubbing their chins to leave a scent? There's a reason we do this, involving complex cat relationships you won't understand... meeoow! I got used to leaving a bit more space at the corners, but the cone stopped me from being a normal cat. I couldn't even groom myself, or wash my bottom after using my litter tray, which was humiliating so I pooped in the middle of the kitchen floor to remind my human she had to clean up after me. On the positive side, I had some sweet-tasting medicine from the vet to stop my ear itching, and my human let me out into the garden for a few supervised hours each day to cheer me up. So I was a brave cat and ate up all my food, and by my final post-op check I'd put on almost 1kg in weight - which I needed to do, because when the silver Tom visited me in the night my lump fell off I was a bag of bones with my ribs showing, and I want to look my best if he comes again.

Post-op Day 9 - supervised outside time.

I had to go back in the carrier to see the vet again for a couple of post-op checks, and I was a bit feistier by then and heavier too, so I broke the carrier and my human had to sellotape it back together for my final appointment on Day 10. She was a bit embarrassed by this, but the vet gave me the all-clear and (MEEEE-HOORAAAY!!!) removed my cone.

First day without the cone.

On my first day of freedom, prowling and re-marking my territory with my scent, I was so happy I cried... my missing ear was rather draughty and it felt funny when the wind blew in there. But my eyes soon settled down, and I'm back to chasing sparrows and climbing trees. I still can't jump quite as high as I could before the lump grew on my ear, but I'm getting stronger every day. Meanwhile, I'm sneakily pulling my stitches out, one by one (don't tell the vet!)... my human says they're meant to dissolve over time and threatens me with the cone again, but my ear's almost healed now, and I know she won't make me wear it again because she doesn't want to go back to cleaning my bottom for me. Also, the hair is growing back where the vet shaved me while I was asleep-without-dreaming, and soon you'll hardly be able to tell I had ear cancer at all.

Happy cat, sunbathing again!

Now I'm off all the meds and wondering which Life I'm living? I lose track sometimes, and I've definitely used up another one this summer. But everyone knows cats have nine lives each, so hopefully I'll be around for a good few years yet. Watch out, sparrows! Watch out, Toms! Meeeooow, here I come :-) 

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Katherine Roberts writes fantasy and historical fiction for young (and older) readers. So far, she has not written a cat novel, however you will find a couple of books published under her name written by horses.

Her most popular historical title is I am the Great Horse, which tells the adventures of Alexander the Great from the mouth of his faithful warhorse Bucephalas. Originally published on a children's list by Chicken House UK/Scholastic US, this book has since found a readership among horse and history fans and is suitable for readers of all generations.

I am the Great Horse