Hello All:
 
Well, we fought the good fight but in the end poor Mica's little body just
didn't have the strength to go on.  She died today at 12:12 PM MST.
 
At the end we were making good progress....we got the lump/swelling almost
completely down, and it was obviously beginning to drain and recede.
She still wasn't eating on her own, however, and still didn't have much
strength.  Then on Saturday an ominous development occurred--her right
eye became very milky and she completely lost all ability to control the
muscles around it.  She was most definitely blind on that side.  Things
continued to get worse in her eye throughout the weekend.  We applied a
bandage to the eye to keep it closed (it was drying out without her being
able to blink) but at best we knew it would have to be removed should she
recover.
 
Tuesday morning she had virtually no energy despite several good feedings
and shots of dextrose/ringer's lactate on Monday, so we took her to our
vet.  She determined that the tumor/lesion/whatever had spread in to Mica's
eye and, probably, into her brain (most likely through the ear canal--this
all began when she had a weird ear infection).  She seemed to be in pain,
and there was nothing more we could do for her except make it stop and let
her go.  She passed very, very quickly.
 
Mica was 21/2 years old.  Our vet is doing an autopsy to try to determine
more about what happened; we'll post the results here.
 
She will be missed.
 
Steve and Colleen
Continually Matching Wits with Minx, Taz, Scamp, Rosie, Splinter, Maverick,
Chevy, Harp, and Guiness
Waiting on the Other Side:  Missy, Ripple, Slinky, Zebulon Pike, Newone,
Ranger, Puck, and Mica
[Posted in FML issue 2891]