Pip is a beautiful and loving cat and is very much part of our family. She is treated like our third child and has what we hope to be a very happy and comfortable life.
I have been surrounded my animals for most of my life as my parents run an animal sanctuary in the Birmingham area of England. I have learnt quite a lot about these different animals and have a particular love of cats and dogs.
Pip herself is ninety-five percent white in colour, the other five percent is black. I am aware that cats which are mainly white are basically at a higher risk of catching a type of skin cancer than other cats. In the summer Pip would always love to sunbathe, basking in the sun. I would ensure that I put sun cream on her, mainly around her ears and tried to encourage to sleep more in the shaded areas of our garden. Pip is however quite stubborn and insisted on resting out of the shade.
Over the years I would check Pip out at regular intervals and one day noticed that she had some little black spots in and around her ears. These spots had not been there the last time I had checked her over and therefore I decided to take her to the vets. I felt confident that everything would be fine but just wanted to make sure.
The vet examined Pip and looked quite worried. He told us that Pip had a form of pre-cancer and that the only way that she would survive, in his opinion, would be to have her ears amputated.
This was very sad but we realised that in a way we had no choice. This all happened four years ago and Pip is still going strong today, unaware of how close she was to losing her life. The vet has stated that if I had not checked her out and brought her in to be examined that the cancer would have spread and that Pip would have only lived for around three to six months.
My advice for anyone who has a cat as a pet, especially if they are white in colour, is to check the cat every week or so and if you spot anything out of the ordinary, to take them to the vets.
