She wants to be friends with everybody, and is constantly seeking lots of love & back rubs. Oh, and her real name is "Pippin". Yes, the name is from Lord of the Rings. And yes, her masters are nerds. They also name cats after characters from Star Wars, Star Trek, Disney movies, vampire shows, plus other random dorky names. They rescue a lot of stray and feral cats so they sometimes run out of name
s, that's why one of her friends was punished with the name "Grey Dude". In July 2003, Pippin was found in the crawlspace underneath her master's house with her 2 siblings "Mufasa" and "Kimba". They were around 4 weeks old and the mother cat abandoned them and disappeared. Pippin has enjoyed many wonderful years with lots of friends. However, in 2012 she developed a possible mass or tumor in the roof of her mouth and a severe case of stomatitis. This made it extremely painful to eat, often causing her to scream in pain and hide under the couch. A dental surgery was necessary to remove 6 teeth from the surrounding and affected areas and take a biopsy of the inflamed tissue. Luckily, the biopsy showed no tumor or cancer. It is suspected that the growth could have been caused by an infection or diseased tissue, which new tissue had grown over. To remove the tissue would require a very expensive surgery, removing part of her upper jaw and performing a tissue graft which could put Pippin through lot of suffering. The alternative method for controlling her her stomatitis is cortisone injections and antibiotics. After her 1st cortisone injection, her drooling decreased, she became more energetic, and she began to put weight back on. However the injection only controls the inflammation for 4 to 6 weeks, then she needs to get another injection. Some time has passed now, and Pippin seems to be able to go longer between cortisone injections. We worry about the long term side-effects of regular cortisone injections such as risk of urinary tract infections, thin skin, poor/thin hair coat, decreased healing ability, obestity, muscle weakness due to protein catabolism, calcium deposits on the skin, decreased immune function, increased susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections, etc. Initially, injections were performed 4-6 weeks apart. Now she can make it almost 8 weeks between injections. Her drooling increases when the tissue on the roof of her mouth becomes more inflamed causing her lower canine to push into the tissue whenever she closes her mouth. So she doesn't shut her mouth all the way. Plus, the teeth that were removed helped to hold her tongue in her mouth. Since they've been removed and she holds her mouth partly open, her tongue hangs out and her drooling increases. We would never let her suffer and drool just so we can take a few "Drool Cat" pictures. And when she shows the slightest amount of pain or inability to eat, we immediately take her in for another injection. But in the hopes of preventing or delaying the onset of side effects from the steroids we won't rush her in just because she's drooling. We can live with a little drool as long as she's happy and has a healthy appetite. She's been our companion for 12 years, and we hope she'll stay healthy and be with us for many years to come.
