The CT Scan

Virga and Cirrus had their CT scans on Thursday. The procedure went well. It was done under anesthesia, and the radiologist had to inject them with a contrasting dye to get the images, which had some risks.

The results were heartbreaking, though. Virga has metastatic cancer that has spread to her lungs. They don't think the spots on her liver are anything and that was a bit of good news. Our vet said that she may only have another month or two (three at the outside) before she starts to rapidly deteriorate. The vet had tears in her eyes and gave M a hug when she told her the news. I was at work for a bit and just missed getting back to the hospital when M was called back. There were also a couple of small spots on Cirrus' scan that are suspicious on first look, and the radiologist will further analyze the scan to see what is going on. Our vet is going to talk to their veterinary oncologist and see if there is an oral, inexpensive, and somewhat effective chemo med that we can treat Virga and Cirrus with. It won't cure them, but it it may slow things down and give Virga few more months. If Cirrus is in the very early stages, she's hoping that with treatment it has a chance to go into remission.She was careful to inform us that chemo for animals is more for quality of life, and if the cancer goes into remission it's a bonus. We'll get a report and a copy of the CT images this week.

We honestly weren't expecting to hear that everything was good, but to hear Virga might not have much time left hit us hard.


To top it all off, Virga has had some sort of tremors when she first wakes up. The odd thing about them is that they cease as soon as she is up and around. We informed our vet about it and she will be checking with their new neurologist.  I've been trying to get video of it to show them, but it seemed every time I turned on the camera she would stop! I was finally able to get about 30 seconds the night before last and will be sharing that with them on Tuesday. That's when we'll be back at the vet for the regular wellness checks for CB and Foehn.


Right now Virga seems to be herself, perhaps moving a bit slower. She is still one of the first out at night, loves her mealworms, and is spending a lot of time on her wheel during "office" time.