My Boy is a Hero - or will be soon

A couple weeks ago, as I was sitting on the couch snuggling with Viktor, I found a lump tucked down at his groin on the left side. It was quite large (about the size of an egg) and so I got alarmed. What could it be? A tumor? His “guy parts” acting up? An alien about to hatch? He didn’t seem to mind me poking at it, so I assumed it didn’t hurt. A quick call to the vet got us an appointment on Wednesday to take a look at it.

Viktor did so well at the vet that day! He was cheerful and inquisitive, running all over the exam room exploring. When the doctor tried to listen to his heart, all she could hear was him purring. He even showed her how he could open up all their cabinets!

The doctor talked to me about all the things it “could” be, and stated that she didn’t think it was anything to worry about. She said they could take a biopsy and send it in to the lab to confirm it if I liked – which I did. So she picked Viktor up and headed to the back room.

When she brought him back a few minutes later, she praised him (yet again) saying that he was such a good boy. While they were poking him with the needle (multiple times) he just laid there smiling up at them!  He was so good, in fact, the doctor asked if I would consider having him be part of the Blood Doner program for Felines!

Cats have two major blood types: A and B. A is the most common type with most cats in the world falling in to that category. B is much rarer and therefore harder to get. Because Viktor is a Devon Rex, which is a rare breed, they thought there was a good chance that he would be a type B – apparently the rare blood type is most typically found in the rare breeds.

It’s a lot to consider. Viktor would have to be sedated each time because they take the blood from his jugular and they don’t want to harm him in any way. And you all know how horrible you feel after having given blood yourself – do I really want my baby to feel like that every 8 weeks? The doctor listened to all of my fears and answered all of my questions – then sent me home with a pamphlet laying out all the pros & cons of the procedure so I could think about it.

I talked it over with Bryan and Mother, then called the vet back and said we would give it a try. If he gets too stressed out at any time, he can always back out of it.

There’s a lot to the program, actually. First we had to get his blood typed out to see what he is = and guess what?!? He IS a Type B!!! I always knew my baby was special…

Now they are testing his blood for all the things you can possibly test blood for. I should get results back from their lab sometime this week. Then we’ll move on to some more testing: a complete physical examination, chest radiographs, a urinalysis, a fecal exam, and a 1-year flea/tick/heartworm preventative (assuming we need that up here).

He’ll even get his portrait taken to be posted up on their wall.

Oh, and that lump turned out to be nothing but fat. I am relieved, of course, but have to just sadly shake my head over that.

My boy may be a Hero, but apparently he’s a fat Hero.