I have a dilemma. I took my cat to the vet today. He has already had 2 cancer surgeries and lost a leg. Today I found out he has another cancerous tumor, major thyroid problems and the beginnings of liver trouble. He is 14. He now needs: 1. Another surgery 2. Twice daily thyroid meds for a non-cancerous tumor 3. Prescription food and no treats I wish he could tell me what he wants...
How is his quality of life? :grouphug: Honestly, at 14, I probably would not put the cat through more surgery. I would more than likely make him comfortable and spoil him rotten until. I'm sorry you and your kitty have to go through this.
Thanks. That's the direction we are leaning toward at the moment. He is weak, which I didn't know, from the thyroid. But the meds will take care of that and he should actually feel much better. He's not in any pain.
just make him comfortable, give him pills but not surgery, hes too old for that. my cat had cancer and lost a leg and 6 years later he developed heart disease and vet said it wouldnt prolong his life. just love him and when you feel he is suffering then put him to sleep.
Thanks girls. Very balanced advice, and it's what my husband said too. Telling the vet we're not doing the surgery is easier said than done. He even said he'd do it for free since we've already done it twice before. Such a wonderful man! Just loves the animals and wants to help.
I agree too, I wouldn't put him through another surgery. He's had a great long life and at this point, let it be about the quality of life and spoil him rotten for as long as you can. I had a cat that we just recently lost, he was about 14, and he was diagnosed with what was "probably" lymphoma. The only reason it was a "probable" diagnosis was because everything else had been ruled out. My vet said the only way to know if it was lymphoma for sure was to do surgery and take a biopsy of his intestines... I didn't want to put him through that. So we just treated the symptoms and let him have the best days he could and he knew when his time came. :grouphug::grouphug:
Thanks all of you. Hold on to those hugs. I really hope we won't need them for a while! I'll give my Bubba lot of hugs instead! Here's a picture about 3 years ago before he became a tripod! He also only weighs 10 pounds now, not 17 like here!
Peaches...I hate you are even having to contemplate this decision. Bottom line is YOU have to do what YOU think is best. I say this because when my little guy was diagnosed as terminally ill, I second guessed every decision I made. I tried to think of him first which is really hard when you love them so much. WE decided to do treatment for a while (about 5 months) until it started making him sick. He reverted back to puppy stage for those 5 months! I had "friends" tell me that I was abusing him by having him go through treatments and I was allowing the Vet to experiment on him...obviously neither of those were true. I was making the best decisions I could at the time, in the moment. Looking back on it, I think I would still make the same choices for him but I know I wouldn't for my other babies. He LOVED the Vet and they spoiled him rotten during treatment! Vet paid a VetTech to hold him and kiss him for 5 hours. Yeah, he was so abused. My other babies HATE the Vet...I couldn't put them through 2x per week visits...that would be cruel to them. Bottom line is, as MOMMY, you will make the right decision. I have faith in you and your baby does too! That is gonna be ONE SPOILED KITTY (even more so than now, I'm sure)!! That's what they were created for...for us to love and spoil. I'm thinking about you.
Sorry to hear about your Kitty. We just recently also found out that ours has the thyroid problem. Took him in for his yrly vaccines, and had them run the basic blood work (not something we normally do) cause he'd been looking and acting a little pueny - sure nuff - same as yours, tumor on his thyroid. We started him on 2x daily dose of the medicine and now after about 5 wks, he's already looking fatter and acting more normal. We opted for the non-pill form of the medicine, as he does NOT take pills easily!! :boxing: We have it compunded at Medicap, costs about $25 for 5 wk supply. It comes in syringes. I push the medicine out onto a small piece of paper, scoop it up on a Qtip, then rub it inside his ear (avoiding the fur), cut the used end of the Qtip off, and use the other end the next time - so far its been working just fine! (I share this w/ you because the instructions say to apply wearing gloves, and I didn't have any gloves, plus that would be a real pain to do 2x a day - Qtips are cheaper!) He's not crazy about it, tries to flatten his ear, so it is easier if you have someone to hold him, but I can it by myself, as I'm normally the one stuck w/ this chore and I'm home alone w/ him in the mornings. Good luck - hope it all works out! :grouphug:
Just thought I'd post an update. So far, so good. He gained half a pound the very first week he was on the thyroid meds. We haven't been back to the vet again yet, but I'm sure he's gained at least 2 more. He has so much more energy and is acting more like himself. He eats twice a day like nomal instead of crying constantly for food. The tumor is definitely growing. I can tell it's at least a third larger already. It was about the size of a pea, and now is a small marble. He is not in pain. We are going to enjoy his company for now and continue to spoil him rotten. :cheers:
My Bubba kitty is sleeping in the woods behind the house now. He stopped eating and we knew it was time. He was tired of fighting. We took him yesterday and he went peacefully to sleep. Hardest thing we've ever done but it was the right thing to do. 'Nite buddy.
I'm sorry to hear that about your furbaby. Sounds like you very much did the right thing by him. :grouphug:
Thanks. It was a rough day but last night we were laughing about him. He was more like a dog than a cat. Used to walk with us around the neighborhood when we lived in town, and then start wailing about half way back to the house, and we'd have to pick him up and carry him the rest of the way home. Our neighbor would come and get him for "play dates" with her poodle. Oh, and we had doggy door, and he brought us a LIVE snake once. It was just a garter snake but still I yelled for hubby to come get it. It was very still, and we both thought it was dead. Well, he picked it up and the thing wrapped itself around his arm!!! You have never seen a grown man run and scream like a little girl as he flung it out the back door! He wasn't laughing about it that day, but now we can laugh until we cry on that one. He was so wildly playful as a kitten that we had to get him a friend because my calves were always bloody from being attacked. I know that doesn't sound pleasant but he was lots of fun. And when we got the second kitten we could have charged admission just to watch them play. Fun stuff. When he got older he calmed down of course. He was the patriarch of our animal kingdom, and the 2 dogs and 2 other cats gave him respect. He was always cleaning them. We will miss him.
