Good Thoughts For Gamma

Gamma, with Boo in the background, two summers ago

One of my cats is having a health crisis, and I'm asking all readers to send her good juju for a speedy recovery. Gamma, the big old matriarch of my cat family, suddenly got a huge abbsess on her cheek- I took her to the vet on Monday, and they lanced it. So there is bloody gunk draining from the side of her face. It turns out she's got one or two infected teeth. She goes in tomorrow to have the bad teeth extracted.


Gamma is an older cat, so being put under anesthesia is more risky. She's a tough kitty with a pretty powerful life force, so I think she'll come through it well, but still this is all traumatic for her. I've had Gamma for about 15 years now. I don't know how old she actually is, as she was already a grown cat when I found her wandering through the cars of a local supermarket one night. I took her home, to keep her from getting run over, and she began her reign. Her original name was Blessing, because she was so kind to several younger cats I took in after her, playing Mama to them when they were missing their own Mamas. Over the years her name evolved into Gamma, or just Gams. She's a fine old kitty.

UPDATE: She is home again, and doing fantastic. She had FOUR teeth pulled. She seems really happy- she must have had some whopper toothaches going on, so I bet it DOES feel better now. When she first got home, she was walking all over the place, meowing away. She wants food too, which she is not allowed to have yet. Now she has settled down on a new rug in the kitchen, which I bought while she was away at the vet's.

I've decided that the next time I need dental work done, I'm just going to dress up in a big cat outfit, and let the veterinarian take care of it. The prices are much better than my dentist, plus they totally knock you out for it!

Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes to Gamma!