Has anyone had experience with a middle-aged cat with cancer? What did you decide to do?
I've had my two cats since they were 6 weeks old. They are from the same litter and are like my first babies. One of them has been sick for awhile and the vet seems to think it might be intestinal lymphoma. We still need to do testing, but it's heading in that direction. I'm completely devastated and don't know what I'll do if it's cancer. If he was 16 or older, I wouldn't want to put him through chemo, but 12 seems too young to put him to sleep. I don't want him to have to suffer though. Also, financially we don't have extra thousands of dollars for cat chemo. But I would feel so terrible putting him to sleep if it's just because we can't really afford treatment.
Any experience with this would be helpful - especially if your pet was older but not very old. Thoughts?
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No advice, but I am so sorry.
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I'm sorry
I have a 10 year old cat in a similar situation. I'm just waiting until she seems like she's in pain and have her put down. Is tough to think about, but I wouldn't have any pet go through chemo. It's hard to tell with cats when they're in pain though.
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My cat had cancer, it was in her neck. We decided to let her be and once she showed any signs of pain or unhappiness, lack of appetite or playfulness we would put her down. I did not want to put her thru the treatments, and didnt have the $ either. She was older, 10 I think, by no means old for a cat. But she was very happy for 2 years, no issues at all. Saw the vet regularly. Then it seemed like overnight she had a huge lump in her neck then she had a stroke and went blind. We put her down that day. Looking back I wish I would have perused things sooner. Maybe it would have made a difference maybe not. But I miss her and realized, she was one of a kind
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Aww I'm so sorry
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I wouldn't put a cat through chemo. It can't be pleasant for the cat and you can't exactly explain to them why they are going through it. I agree with others, put it down when its quality of life diminishes.
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I think we would not treat, unless it was something definitively (or as close to it as you can get) curative with many years of quality life expected afterwards. Our cats just wouldn't understand and they would be miserable. Our dogs though I think we would be more aggressive, but it would also depend on the quality of life during chemo and the likelihood of cure.
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I'm sorry, that is so hard
I've had two sooort of similar situations. A few years ago our cat got really sick and almost died. He didn't have cancer, but he has an autoimmune disease we didn't know about. The initial treatment was pretty expensive (like, more than a mortgage payment) and maintenance drugs were around $150/month. He was 6 years old at that point and with treatment is expected to live a full life. Which means $1800/year in meds + extra testing/vet visits for another 10+ years. The math on that makes my head and wallet hurt. But, when it happened we had the money to pay the initial costs and we were able to swing the meds costs so we went ahead with it. Now it is just part of our budget and doesn't really seem like a big deal until I add up the lifetime costs and realize we will probably spend more on this cat than I did on my car. But I wouldn't feel right putting him down (or letting him die by non treatment) just to save money when we are actually able to pay. On the other hand, our dog got sick a few month ago. We have run through all the tests with the vet and they don't know what is wrong with him. It's possible it is a behavioral issue, but also possible that it is some sort of digestive tumor/cancer. He is 10. We have opted to not pursue further diagnosis unless/until he seems in pain. We feel that at this point with a maximum life expectancy of probably 2-4 more years, (and the fact that I'm unemployed right now and we don't really have the means to do big thousand+ dollar payments at one time) it doesn't make sense to put him through diagnostic testing only to find out he has cancer which we can't/wouldn't treat anyways. Our vet supports this decision entirely (she actually suggested it).
So... I think these things can go either way. I'm sure whatever decision you make will be made with love. Sorry you're going through it.
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I'm so sorry. Huge hugs! I've never had cats but I had a giant breed dog come down with a brain tumor last year. He was 8 yrs old (which is about the life expectancy of that size). I didn't want him to suffer any more, so I made a date to put him down... except when that date came, he seemed to be feeling better, so I waited... 4 days later I came home to him having seizures. I still feel guilty for waiting, and putting off the inevitable.
I say this not to make you sad, but to help you put aside your longing to keep your sweet, beloved pet, and try to make the decision that will give your cat the most comfort in his last days.
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Thanks everyone for your thoughts!
@trailrunner:, and @iluvboba637: Thanks!
@dandelion and @mae: so sorry you are going through the same thing!
@pinkb: and @babyboecksmom: so sorry you had to deal with this too
Things are not looking good. We are trying a new food and extra meds, but now it's been almost 24 hours since he's eaten anything more than a 1/2 a teaspoon of food. We decided not to pursue chemo, so if it's lymphoma, we would treat with prednisone until he seems very sick and in pain. So I think if he isn't eating by tomorrow, I will ask the vet if we can just start the prednisone now instead of waiting for the diagnostics. I really love our vet, but as it turns out, they can't do the x-rays and blood work for another week! I was like, listen, he isn't going to be around in a week unless he's on meds that start working. This sucks
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my cat got cancer at 7 and we pursued all therapies - radiation, surgery and chemo. i have no regrets as she went into remission and lived a wonderful life for 4 extra years. they handle it way better than you would think because it's not in big doses like it is with humans. chemo is actually very tolerable.
I have a 10 year old cat in a similar situation. I'm just waiting until she seems like she's in pain and have her put down. Is tough to think about, but I wouldn't have any pet go through chemo. It's hard to tell with cats when they're in pain though.
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