My cat has breast cancer :(

[Wag]

Sweet kitty. Only 15yrs old. I noticed she had a lump. Took her to the vet. The vet says most mammary tumors in cats are quite bad.

Damn them. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her right now. They want $550+ just to do the biopsy. I wonder what the point of making the cat suffer through surgery if there's 80%+ chance of the tumor coming back anyways. I'll just end up putting her to sleep.

On top of that they just made me pay $200 this visit for blood workup, and rabies and distemper shots which will be kind of silly if I'm putting her to sleep soon anyways. Bastards.

 

[JDrake]

sucks losing a pet, at least she lived to 15, that's a real long time.

my first dog had cancer throughout her body and died when she was 11

 

[Art Vandelay]

I am sorry

 

[spidey07]

Sorry for kitty.

But you have to realize at age 15, they are getting up there. Only solice that I can offer is you do not want them to suffer. That hurts like nothing else (for us).

 

[Caesar]

Originally posted by: Art Vandelay
I am sorry

 

[Staples]

My cat had one too. I had her put down.

At least she is old. Mine had to have been 10 years old.

 

[Dumac]

At 15 years, she has lived a while. Her passing will be sad, but just remember all the good times you have had with her.

 

[Wag]

What's really frustrating is that there's absolutly nothing wrong with her! I don't know if making her go through the whole surgery for the biopsy, opening her up, removing the lump, etc, is just making things worse?

If she's going to die anyways what's the point?

 

[KillerCharlie]

Originally posted by: Wag
What's really frustrating is that there's absolutly nothing wrong with her! I don't know if making her go through the whole surgery for the biopsy, opening her up, removing the lump, etc, is just making things worse?

If she's going to die anyways what's the point?

Yeah, she's getting pretty old. If it was my cat, I wouldn't bother having the biopsy and surgery - that seems like a lot more trouble for both of you. I would keep an eye on her and if she starts to quickly deterioate, I'd put her to sleep.

 

[Wag]

Indoor cats can live over 20 years.

I really am at a loss as of what to do at this point. The vet really wants me to do it. But if these kinds of cancers are so bad, why make the cat suffer? I thought vets took Hypocratic Oaths too?

 

[preslove]

Don't spend all that money just to see her suffer. Have the vet come put her to sleep at your place while you hold her.

Edit: Wait till she shows signs of pain, then have them do it.

 

[Wag]

Vet does not do housecalls, and the cat is nowhere near at that point. As I've said before, other than the lump, there is absolutely nothing wrong. She's behaving normally.

The vet lwants to do the biopsy to see if the tumor to see if it's malignant. Problem is, (at least from what she's told me and from what I've read), they almost always are.

I think I will let them do the biopsy and excise the tumor to see how far it's grown. They will analyse the tumor afterwards, with a small chance it will be benign, but even if it's malignant I think I'll just leave her be and forget about chemo and put her to sleep when her health declines.

 

[Wag]

I just brought Lacy back home from her mastectomy, and according to the vet, the radiograph showed the tumor hadn't as yet spread, so they got the whole thing.

The only thing to do now is give her antibiotics, monitor her, and hope the biopsy results come back negatative.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Wag
I just brought Lacy back home from her mastectomy, and according to the vet, the radiograph showed the tumor hadn't as yet spread, so they got the whole thing.

The only thing to do now is give her antibiotics, monitor her, and hope the biopsy results come back negatative.

Thanks for the good news.

 

[Accipiter22]

well that's good news! hope & pray....pics of cat?

 

[sandmanwake]

You going to give her breast reconstruction surgery after she recovers a bit? Make it look all nice and firm? Like she was a hot, young cat of five again? Get those nipples real perky when it's cold out? Oh, yeah, that's hot.

 

[jagec]

"Only" 15? Man, American cats have it good. When I was growing up, our cats NEVER made it that long.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

woah i also have a kitty named Lacy.

beak.jpg

lacy = black
desiree=brown

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Wag
I just brought Lacy back home from her mastectomy, and according to the vet, the radiograph showed the tumor hadn't as yet spread, so they got the whole thing.

The only thing to do now is give her antibiotics, monitor her, and hope the biopsy results come back negatative.

yay!


my cat was 14 when she got skin cancer. it was on her heel, on her left hind leg. because there isn't much skin there and because of the pathology of that type of cancer, i had her whole leg amputated. she was a tripod kitty for another two years before her kidneys went out (a known side effect of the thyroid medication she was on, and not one that the vet in austin had warned me about).

i miss my kitty