# My cat has a tumor...need help/feedback



## Feline999 (May 12, 2011)

Hi folks, 

I know his should be posted in the health section so I apologize, but I just joined this forum and am not allowed to post there yet. I need to get some quick feedback.


Our 13 year old female cat was just discovered to have a tumor (an adenocarcinoma) in her abdomen...believed to be attached to her small intestine. We took her in to the vet when she wasn’t eating for a few days. We did a biopsy and blood work. While no sign of cancer was found in her blood work, the vet is 99% sure the tumor is cancerous but doesn't know if its spread. In the mean time we’ve been giving her 2 mL’s of prednisone daily to help with the inflammation and it seems to be helping. We also gave her a shot of antibiotics. She’s eating and acting quite normal. 
Our primary vet told us that if we chose to have surgery, the life expectancy of our cat would still average 3 – 6 months after surgery. Though she said some cases have shown that cats have lived longer…up to 18 months. Of course, cases have shown that some cats her age don’t survive surgery or don’t live within a week of surgery. 
Another vet suggested we remove the tumor, which is about the size of my fist, and proceed with chemo. He stated that typically cats do “quite well” with the surgery and are usually back home in about 2 days and up on their feet again in about a week. My family and I already know we wouldn't want to put our cat through chemotherapy…we have family members who’ve been through it and to put a pet through it isn’t something we’d want. But we're really unsure if we still want to get the tumor surgically removed to make her more comfortable. Would putting her through the pain/recovery time of surgery be practical? And would doing surgery and then not doing chemo be practical? 
If anyone out there has been in similar situation I’d love some help/feedback on this.


----------



## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

I am truly sorry for what your cat and you are going through. 

There is always the chance it is a benign cyst. Vets have been wrong before, not only about the diagnosis but about the prognosis.


----------



## Feline999 (May 12, 2011)

Thank you for the kind words, Greenport.


----------



## bkitty (Aug 17, 2009)

I am so sorry to hear about your kitty. This is such a difficult situation for you and I feel for you. There are no easy answers. We went thru something similar several years ago with Lady Gray, she had a large mass (cancerous) that became so painful for her. We were faced with the choices of taking her to a veterinary university clinic and be faced with thousands of dollars in costs with no real hope other than prolonging her life for a year or two. We made the choice to euthanise to end her pain which the vet did while I held her and cuddled her. 
Can you get a biopsy to find out if it truly is cancer? That may give you more info to base your decision on. 
There is no "right " way - only what is best in your heart that you can do for her.


----------



## Diorchichi (May 12, 2011)

If you can afford the surgery , I think its a no brainer to do it and hope for the extra time to spend with the animal, as long as the vet can insure theres no pain involved or suffering for that extented time period. Find out the succuess rate of the surgery of course before you make your final decision. AND maybe try and get a 2nd opinion ...


----------



## Feline999 (May 12, 2011)

Thank you all for the feedback. We can certainly afford the surgery but it seems the risks involved far outway the benefits. Most cats in her situation don't make it more than a couple of weeks after surgery...if they survive the surgery. If they do survive that long, they only live another 3 -6 months on average. We've read of cases where the cat does live longer but we just don't know if we want to put our cat through the pain/recovery of surgery just to keep her a bit longer. In most cases, the cancer comes back in cats and the process has to be started all over again. I think we might be ready to say that we're willing to keep her comfortable for as long as possible without doing the surgery and then let her go. I;m pretty sure that's what we're all thinking but we haven't sat down and said it yet. Thanks again for all your insight and kind words.


----------



## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

This reminds me a bit of this thread: http://www.catforum.com/forum/38-health-nutrition/142290-my-poor-eric.html

It turned out not to be a cancer at all. Perhaps she'll be just fine?


----------

