# Intro to Winter, my sick cat



## JoyceD (Mar 4, 2011)

Hi all,

I'm here to get advice for Winter, the last of the 3 cats we bought for our kids. 
- Joyce


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## Monkey_Girl (Aug 1, 2010)

Hello, 

I am new as well. Looking forward to 'meeting you'.


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## AnaPanda (Feb 23, 2011)

Sorry your cat is sick. What happens to be wrong?


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

Hi and welcome. Looking forward to hearing about your cats. I'm sure someone here will be able to help you with whatever questions you have about Winter...that's such a pretty name!


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## konstargirl (Feb 4, 2011)

Hi and welcome to the forum! I love that name. One of the cats at the animal shelter that I got Misa in, a cats name was winter and she was all white. Is yours white too? I hope Winter gets better.


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## JoyceD (Mar 4, 2011)

Winter was born mostly white and the kids named him. He's now Siamese-colored, though his parents are both black-and-white cats. My link to a photo of Winter was not included. 
He has bone cancer & the vet said he's too old and it's the kind of cancer that's not worth treating. He's never expressed pain well - not even if his tail gets stepped on, so I'm wondering about the pros and cons of pain medication.


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## Demelza (Mar 4, 2011)

Joyce, I'm so sorry! It's so hard to know what the right thing to do is. I'm sitting here with my 17 year old kitty - the last of 4 cats that I got when I moved out of my parents' home all those years ago. I had to put one to sleep last week and it was such a difficult decision. I just have to believe that she knew that all my decisions were out of love. Wishing you and winter all the best!


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

Having never been through that situation, I can't really advise you...but I did want to say that I'm really sorry to hear about Winter. Hopefully someone else here will have some suggestions.


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## tigressbythetail (Dec 1, 2010)

I haven't been through it with a cat but I have been through it with my old dog Teddi. The way I determined whether it was time for some serious pain meds was whether she was still eating normally and still active. I hated giving it to her because it really put her out of it and stole our time together but it was better than thinking she was in pain. 

I'm sorry you're going through this. I know how gut wrenching it is to see a beloved pet die of cancer.


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## Pawsitively Nicole (Feb 12, 2011)

I think you need to be careful with cats and basing pain on what you see. Cats are predators as well as prey animals naturally. It is because of this that they will not show pain until they can't take it anymore so to speak, but instinctually to exhibit pain is to make themselves vulnerable to predators. Because it is the young, old, and sick that a predator will try to pick off first. This is an instinctual thing. Cancer is painful, I have been through it with cats at the shelter. It is almost always detected too late because of what I have mentioned above in that cats hide their illnesses well. To be honest if your cat is sick enough that you noticed something was wrong then chances are he is currently in pain. I would seriously consider the medication. However, to give you a serious list of pros and cons we would need to know how severe the cancer currently is, his current life expectancy now that he has been diagnosed, and what type of pain medication the vet is suggesting as well as it's side effects.


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## sueb2b (Mar 6, 2011)

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about Winter's condition. I have little to offer except to say I've heard that bone cancer is one of the more painful cancers (at least in humans). I'm not sure why that is but I would wonder if it's the same for cats. Sadly, it's probably more fair to Winter to err on the side of caution and give the pain meds. Good luck to you ....
Suzanne


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## jajajas (Mar 6, 2011)

I'm new too, and sorry to hear about Winter- best of luck to you and him both, let us know how he's doing.


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## JoyceD (Mar 4, 2011)

Thank you all for your concern.


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