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"&amp;quot;Cats are vomiting animals,&amp;quot; a vet once told me. &amp;quot;And that&amp;#039;s a good thing,&amp;quot; he explained. Take horses, for example, who don&amp;#039;t have this capability and must undergo expensive surgical procedures when they have intestinal blockages or stomach issues. Not cats.  Yet lately, my beloved Rocco has been exercising his regurgitation abilities more than usual, at least half a dozen times a day. And then I found a lump on the side of his neck and was sure the two were connected and that something was seriously wrong. &amp;quot;We could do a senior lab panel on him,&amp;quot; said the vet. I bristled at the senior part. Rocco is, after all, somewhere between 7 and 9 years old, or 48 to 52 in people years \u2013 the same range as me. Surely that doesn&amp;#039;t make him &amp;quot;senior.&amp;quot; And then there was the cost: nearly $200. If he was a senior, where was his medicare coverage?  &amp;quot;It could be diabetes,&amp;quot; said the vet. Rocco has all the risk factors: he&amp;#039;s 18 pounds, eats only dry food, and drinks a lot of water. &amp;quot;We could test his blood sugar level, and you could leave him here where we could get a urine sample too.&amp;quot;  Then there was the biopsy of the lump under his neck, which needed to go to an off site lab (read: another $200). I said yes to everything: that&amp;#039;s what credit cards are for.  &amp;quot;Good news and more good news,&amp;quot; said the vet, after taking him in the back to do the procedures. Rocco&amp;#039;s blood sugar was completely normal (i.e. no diabetes) and she was able to biopsy the lump herself. Diagnosis: fat. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s got fat coming out all over,&amp;quot; she said, &amp;quot;it&amp;#039;s rather unusual for a cat to have this kind of lump.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;How did he feel about being called fat?&amp;quot; said my friend Harriet when I gave her a Rocco update. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;d be very upset,&amp;quot; she added. Rocco? He&amp;#039;s taking it in stride. Just don&amp;#039;t call him senior.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a43252/diagnosis-fat-10750/?src=shelter_footer>