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Long story short but our cat has over the last few months developed a large lump at the spot where he’s had injections/vaccinations all his life (back of neck) - it’s a well known condition apparently. It’s almost certainly an injection site fibrosarcoma and it seems to be as horrible as it sounds. Our vet has referred us to a specialist/oncologist and we go in for a consultation tomorrow morning…this involves a CT scan so we know exactly what we’re dealing with. Our cat seems fine in himself other than trying to scratch it occasionally. Spoke to our vet today who said it’s extremely unlikely that’s it’s not malignant so don’t get your hopes up (summary but said nicer than that!). Reading up on it today and it’s very aggressive and if not removed properly will prob come back worse. The scan and consultation is £3k alone but we’re doing that to get a better picture of what we do from there. I don’t want this to be about cost but have to be realistic about his welfare/life expectancy afterwards and balancing what we can afford. Insurance might cover some but not all of the probable £10k cost. We had to have a cat put down once and it’s the hardest thing I think I’ve ever had to do and would hate to be in that position again. Anyone have a first-hand good outcome story to this or similar situation, or any vets reside here care to advise? If you’re a cat hater (a recent thread unearthed a few of them) please don’t post - thanks
Short answer is no. My cat had Feline Infectious Peritonitis. There's no cure but he's survived, spent a week getting 24hr care from the vet. Cost was over 5k , mostly covered by the insurance fortunately. I can imagine how you must feel. Hope you are as lucky as I was.
I feel your pain. I love cats. We have three, one of whom has totally imprinted on me and is my companion and shadow (the second was my partner's for years before we met and the third is an adorable moron). She gets separation anxiety when I leave the house, she's always behind the door waiting when I come home and the last time I went on holiday she chewed lumps out of herself. If my partner and I split up and I could only take one thing with me it'd be little Freya. I still get "dusty in here" thinking about my old girl and she passed 20 years ago.
But ten grand? It'd destroy me, but realistically that's a new kitchen and a kitten.
Everything crossed for you mate. I hope it all works out for the best.
Sorry - no good news here.
5 year old cat had a fibrosarcoma on her side, spotted when it was the size of a grape. Specialist vet said that to remove properly involved 3 layers of tissues - so skin, muscles, ribs in her case. Prognosis still poor even with removal. Basically what you've been told.
We didn't have it removed and she was perfectly happy for another few months, and then wasn't, and started to go downhill fast.
lots of treats and hugs whilst you can, IMO.
🙁
... and having typed that I realise I'm probably ****ing emo/stupid enough to slam it on a credit card anyway.
Aye, kitchens get to you like that.
I think this is sadly one of the cases where the cats quality of life post op and (in all likelihood) prior to the tumor re-appearing wouldn't be great - certainly hard to justify for the cats best interests.
Aside from the 5 year old cat above (which was 10 years ago), we went through *similar* with our dog 2 years ago with a nasal tumor.
Vet; "These are typically aggressive, even with aggressive (and unpleasant) treatment the dog will probably only see another 6 months etc etc"
Me; " When can you start treatment? Here's my credit card."
the dog lived six months to the day, and we wish we hadn't put him through the treatment. Without treatment he may not have lived as long, but I don't think the treatment was fair to him, in hindsight. £12k (not that it's about money)
I'm going to leave this now, getting upset TBH. OP, PM me if you want.
Successful removal of fibrosarcomas in cats, whether injection site or elsewhere, is rare. That said, they have a fairly low metastatic potential (ie typically don’t spread to distant sites). This means that you could opt to leave it alone and the cat will potentially have a fairly significant amount of time living fairly normally with it before it causes any pain or other problems.
Quite likely the CT will confirm that margins will be difficult / impossible, and personally I wouldn’t operate in that instance. I don’t think they’re great candidates for chemo, and from personal experience over the years I’m not much of a fan of using chemo in pets, excepting a few specific circumstances where there are drugs for specific tumours that have minimal side-effects.
Thanks all. Not really the answers I wanted but expected. Chemo has been mentioned - 3 doses at £700 a pop before the op to shrink it - if we get that far, with more to follow afterwards. We’re prepared to get upset tomorrow morning and I’m already thinking I’d rather have him as he is for as long as possible before the inevitable decision comes. The thing that really hurts is that he just seems like his old self - he’s 10 but he’s a young playful 10, super affectionate, loves cuddles and purrs lots, sleeps on the bed etc. He’s going to leave a massive hole and we’re dreading what might be coming. I’m crying now typing his - the 3rd bloody time today.
He’s going to leave a massive hole and we’re dreading what might be coming.
I can't provide any helpful advice but I fully understand what you are going through.
Although we obviously don't want them to suffer the fact that they are oblivious to their own medical conditions and carry on as normal in many ways makes it worse.
Just do whatever you know is best for him and despite the massive hole he will inevitably leave behind you will have the reassurance of knowing that you did precisely that.
One day I will have to say goodbye to these two
I try not to think about it!
We’re prepared to get upset tomorrow morning and I’m already thinking I’d rather have him as he is for as long as possible before the inevitable decision comes.
It will always happen, all we can hope is that it's later rather than sooner.
My mum said she'd never have another because she couldn't cope with the loss. I understand that, but to my mind it's kinda mad because it ignores the one, five, ten, twenty years of love that you had together. My Charlie was short-lived but he was a stray I inherited and we had a happy life together for a couple of years. Our ginger idiot Sienna I have no doubts wouldn't have survived if we haven't taken her in and honestly, I'm not expecting longevity there. I'm fairly sure she has a mild form cerebellar hypoplasia, but she's a happy soul.
Enjoy the time you have together. Both sets of lives are better for it.
Jester had cancer. The vet was able to biopsy it and said it would be surgery followed by chemo and being an indoor whilst that was going on. It was then an easy decision as he hated being kept indoors and the surgery and chemo weren't curative. We'd have been doing it for us and not for him.
In the end, from being told there's a lump and it's cancer to the final visit was 11 days and we probably hung on too long with that.
It was heartbreaking and I'm filling up now remembering it (5 years ago).
I put my cat Roxy down about 18 months ago due to kidney failure. We could have treated her at a very silly cost, but it would only have gained her a few months and her quality of life was gone. Holding her during the injection was one of the hardest things I’ve done. My wife and kids couldn’t cope with even being there. The way I rationalised it was that she’d had a great 16 years.
We lasted six months before adopting a pair of kittens…
My view with pets is look after them as well as you can, but when the time comes, treat them with compassion and don’t let them suffer any more than they have to, even if you suffer as a result of it.
No useful advice I'm afraid, I've had cats all my life and absolutely adore them (we have 3 at present). I just wanted to wish you all the best and hope that you do get a positive outcome.
Four cats here - I think you've got to weigh up quality of life. When we had one of our cats, it was a case of when she stopped toileting properly, it was time.
OP here. Fudge had his CT scan today. Blood and urine ok. Scan needs proper analysing but initial look suggested lump isn’t too deeply embedded - that’s good. Not so good is swollen lymph node on one side and a small lump in one lung that they can’t really test - just monitor. She thinks it’s almost certainly a tumour. Lymph nodes will be key on whether they think it’s worth operating on. He’s home with some nifty shaved patches and seems as per. Not eaten and wants to go out but he can’t as he was sparko and potentially still a bit drowsy. Def the huge downside to having pets 😕
andylc - sent you a message - cheers
Results are back. The sarcoma is ‘mobile’ and apparently not too deeply rooted. 80% chance of incurable cancer tumour in one lung. We have a decision to make. We keep flitting between 2 scenarios:
A. do nothing and let him live out whatever days he has left happy. The lump will become a mobility issue at some point and I guess then is the time to call it a day.
B. he has surgery to remove it with follow up chemo. He will have to be indoors anywhere between 2-6 weeks after the op depending on how the surgery goes. He’ll be zonked out on drugs to surpress his urge to go out - he’s always out and he’ll hate that. Someone said yesterday he’ll be weaker and more vulnerable to other cats - not sure how true this is but makes me wonder.
Option A almost inevitably means we won’t have him as long and we’re not giving him a fair chance. Option B seems like a lot to endure, perhaps never be the same again, for possibly not much more time - who knows? Insurance will stump up the initial £7.5k bit beyond that it’s on us - this cold easily run into £13k with the op, hospital care, drugs, chemo and follow up CT scans.
We need to get back to the hospital ASAP really with our decision. We are leaning towards A so he can ‘enjoy’ possibly his last summer 😢.
It’s a horrible decision to make and there’s no obvious right or wrong which makes it even harder.
See my earlier post, Jester was very much an outdoor cat and it would have been a disaster keeping him inside. That fact really made us decide on Option 1.
The outcome will be the same, the difference is the length of time. I would rather have a happier cat for a shorter time than a miserable cat for longer.
Tough decision to make but I would go for option 1
I still miss the Fat Boy - it was 5 years ago on 17th May
we wish we hadn’t put him through the treatment.
Symapthise with those having to make tough decisions. This resonated with me as it is exactly (well, she not he but you get my drift) what we said after my Mum died having gone downhill fast with no quality of life, as the medics predicted, after we pursued treatment because to refuse seemed so impossible to comprehend.
it's about his quality of life, not yours, as has been said above.
Unless the prognosis for 'B' is really good, it's option A, for me.
We lost a pair of ginger toms to cancer, not at the same time, but a year apart. One of the hardest decisions, I ever took was to have them put down. I was in bits. Typing this has me in tears. Vet said that treatment might give them a few more months, but their quality of life would be far poorer. We have not replaced them because it hurt too much.