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I wanted to make a thread where we can all commiserate about how lovely dealing with pet cancer is. My crazy little lady cat Moo (she's 13) is now on her third battle with cancer. The first two times were mammary cancer, a single lump, had surgery each time no fuss no muss and had clean margins so it really wasn't a major deal. Third time is a charm I guess because now she is covered in lumps ranging from her toes, shoulder blade, elbow, hind leg, a small one on her gums, and a small one in her lungs as well. It started out as her chewing on her nail more aggressively than normal and we woke up one morning with little drops of blood on our floor. I assumed she had just played rough and maybe pulled it. She was scheduled for a teeth cleaning and lion cut that week anyway so we just mentioned it to vet when we dropped her off. Once they shaved her down they noticed a lump on her front elbow. It was a rough phone call and initially they thought she had a vaccine related sarcoma in her elbow and suggested we amputate the limb. I wanted some time to consider things so we picked her up and decided to sleep on it over the weekend. By Monday however we had found several smaller lumps all over her and the vet referred us to a specialist at this point. First specialist we went to was completely worthless. They upset her so much she was bleeding from her toe all over the table so they just sedated her, took her back, came back five minutes later and said "She's got lung-digit cancer. Sorry, she'll probably just die within two months." and that was it. We took her to another specialist in the area and while MUCH more expensive, they actually spent far more time with her, with us, and found more info. They did several biopsies, ultrasounds, x-rays, and blood work and talked to us about several options to help improve her quality of life. The ultrasounds were clear however that is when the mass in her lungs was discovered. At this point the specialist was also thinking it was lung-digit cancer which apparently is really hard to treat but the results came back saying it's basically her previous mammary cancer but metastasized though her body and popping up in weird places. The good news is this is treatable with chemo. The bad news is, chemo isn't 100% guaranteed and this may only extend her life for an extra six months or so. We are starting on a five course run of adriamycin (every three weeks) tomorrow morning. I have no idea what to expect from this and I had to take out a Care Credit account just to cover the initial visit and each one of these treatment visits will run about another $500 but I refuse to give up on her. My plan of action is to be as aggressive as she can handle and if she reacts poorly from the chemo our back up option will be a liquid anti-inflammatory that I will have to give her every 2 or 3 days. Currently she is eating, drinking, being semi-active and acting like nothing is too terrible but I know without any assistance she will go downhill quickly. She's my best buddy and I know she won't live forever and she's already had a long great life but fingers crossed this will at least make her more comfortable in her last few months with me.  She's become quite snugly the past couple of years.  This was her in all her floof glory. Once shaved she's a scrawny little thing of only about 6.5 pounds.  Her and her adopted son having a catnip party in the kitchen!  Her snuggling up to me in an opiate daze after her last cancer surgery.
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Sep 22, 2015 18:28
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I guess no one else has ever had to deal with a pet with cancer? Lucky you guys! Moo had her first round of chemo yesterday and it apparently went as well as a round of chemo can. Now it's a matter of watching her over the next few days and making sure she eats. Apparently cats handle chemo pretty well so all we really need to look out for is nausea and/or diarrhea but I am having some medicine compounded for her to help with that as well. Her whiskers may fall out too but she won't magically turn into a sphynx overnight or anything. One round down, four more to go. Fingers crossed the tumors start shrinking!
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Sep 24, 2015 17:46
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Our MonaCat had cancer and passed a few years back. She had the chemo done, but it wasn't anywhere as bad as we thought it was going to be. No fur loss, no whiskers falling out...if anything she slept a little more. We were told that cats handle chemo much, much better than people do with hardly any side effects, and it seemed to be true for the most part with her. We had to get her to eat though, since her appetite was slightly diminished...but it wasn't a big deal with her. We just gave her a dab of mayo with all meals and she was thrilled  With Stimpy, though, we elected to not do the chemo for him since the cancer was already pretty far gone when discovered. He passed quickly though, and we were with him at the end. Hope your kitty is doing well
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Sep 24, 2015 18:42
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Oh man, I'm so sorry  It sounds like you're doing your best for her, which is the best any of us can ask for.I lost my Leroycat late last year; his eyes were getting kind of gunky so we took him to the vet, who while doing a checkup found a lump. Vet told us it was probably lymphoma and explained the general situation if that was the case (possible treatment/prognosis, etc.) All sounding reasonably okay, for cancer. Tests went off, came back, confirmed lymphoma, brought cat back to vet ... lump had something like quadrupled in size. Cat was very thin and weak at this point. It was rough, but we decided to put him down first thing Monday morning (this was Saturday). Gave him plenty of snuggles (he was allowed on the bed!) and raw chicken and other treats all weekend. Woke up Monday morning having had cat snuggled on bed. Cat made loud noise, had seizure for about a minute, died on my bedroom floor. Goddamn drama king couldn't even wait to get to the vet. At least I was with him, and in a way that really was typical of him, to do things on his own schedule and drat the rest of us. Photo tax: 
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Sep 24, 2015 22:02
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My old lady cat has developed 2 lumps near each other on her belly and we're torn on what to do since she's at least (we have no idea) 15 years old and gets really stressed out around strangers anyway, let alone going through treatment. I may be overthinking it.
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Sep 25, 2015 14:50
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Are they mammary glands? If so, you could potentially just have a surgery to remove the lumps and she would heal up in about a week or so. Pretty easy surgery really. So Moo is still doing pretty good after chemo. Eating as long as I bug her and bring the food to her. We made the mistake of taking off her cone of shame so she could groom a bit and she went loving bananas around the house causing havoc. She chewed on her bad toe for a sec and then just flung blood all over the house. The second I put the cone back on it was like turning off the crazy switch. She just calmly laid back down and wanted to snuggle again and be chill. Cone of shame continues!
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Sep 25, 2015 16:32
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I hope Moo is still doing well. That's funny about the cone of shame. Fatfat, my cancer cat, goes ballistic with the cone on. It evokes a total 180 from her usual personality. The last one we put on her disappeared somewhere; she emerged several hours later without it, so I expect to find it inside a wall during our next bout of home renovation. Fatfat has had the itty bitty kitty titty cancer recur a few times now, plus been under for manky teeth extractions. Nearly all of her mammary tissue has been removed. Unfortunately, she has more tumors now -- on her limbs, around her ribcage, and around her previous incisions. Most of them are just simple fatty tumors, but one is attached to her chest wall. Our vet, whose judgment I trust pretty well, is reluctant in the extreme to operate unless the next x-ray shows growth. Last time she operated (earlier this year), the vet had to remove so much tissue that Fatfat ended up losing most of the loose skin permitting extension of her left forelimb. It's mostly stretched back into position, but... That was pretty hard on her. She's been grooming the gently caress out of tumor sites until they're bloody. The only treatment that stops this is steroids, but long-term steroid usage is a no-no. Fatfat's about thirteen years old now; I'm resigned to her having palliative care in the next year or two. She's a trooper, but I don't know if she's strong enough to make it through chemo. I've had her since she was a tiny black fluff. It's hard to imagine coming home without her greeting me at the door.
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Oct 2, 2015 21:37
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My dog had bladder cancer that blocked off his urethra so he couldn't pee. He died of dick cancer and now his spirit haunts my grill that oddly arrived the same day he was put down. Last known image of Rudy.  First known image of the grill. 
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Oct 3, 2015 04:00
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RedTonic posted:I hope Moo is still doing well. That's funny about the cone of shame. Fatfat, my cancer cat, goes ballistic with the cone on. It evokes a total 180 from her usual personality. The last one we put on her disappeared somewhere; she emerged several hours later without it, so I expect to find it inside a wall during our next bout of home renovation. Fatfat and Moo sound like kindred cancer spirits! She is doing surprisingly well with her chemo aftercare and has actually gained a little weight which has been a huge struggle for the past couple months so that gives me some hope. I am really hoping that the tumor in her mouth will start to shrink with the chemo as that seems to be the thing bothering her the most at the moment and it doesn't look like a surgical solution would help. She's still able to eat and drink regularly but if the tumor continues to grow eventually it will cause problems. And yeah I totally can't imagine the day that I will come home and Moo won't be there to pop her little fluffy head up and happily meow at me from her little snuggle nest on the couch. She's my only pet I've ever had that's been excited to see me when I come home and it will break my heart to lose that bond. Lord knows my rear end in a top hat parakeet doesn't care if I'm alive or dead and my other cat just blatantly ignores me but loves my boyfriend despite me saving his life and only giving him love and patience his entire life. CATS. 
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Oct 5, 2015 23:50
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Roulette posted:CATS. This is the truth! It's a good sign that Moo is regaining weight. If she's feeling perky and seems happy, that's what's important. Oral tumors are definitely the worst, though.
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Oct 6, 2015 13:17
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No current cases here, but I've gone through a few myself. My first dog, a miniature Dachshund, got a lot of fatty tumors slowly over her life, but our vets said they were not a danger and no reason to cut 'em out or anything. Eventually when she was pretty old she developed lymph node cancer and had to be put down fairly quickly. I guess I have a happy cancer story? My main bro dog, a chihuahua, at one point had what we thought was a broken toe. Doc told us to minimize walking and stuff and he should be normal in a month. He wasn't! So they did some very teeny weeny x-rays, called in a specialist in tiny-dog x-rays, and they said they saw some evidence of bone cancer in the toe! We got it lopped off (it was a pinky toe on a front foot), and did tests monthly for the next few months but it never showed up anywhere else in his body, yay!
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Oct 9, 2015 04:38
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My 17 year old jack russell terrier had a seizure last night, and they found nothing in the urine or blood tests leading them to think it's some sort of brain cancer maybe. I cant afford the tests, much less whatever the treatment for confirmed brain cancer is for a 17 year old dog. They put him on some Prednisone in addition to a shot for a few weeks, and let us have him back, he's pretty out of it right now, and hopefully will be up and around sometime in the next day. I'd hate to drag out putting him down, but it felt like I had to try to do something for him.  woof
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Oct 13, 2015 01:45
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So sorry Macasaurus I had to take out a Care Credit line to afford to do all the tests and treatments for my cat and even now we're questioning the worth of it. She just went in for her second chemo treatment today but we're not seeing a lot of benefit from the treatment so far. Maybe I'm being too impatient and expecting miracles, I don't know. I asked if we could also add in prednisolone to help reduce the inflammation and boost her appetite. Maybe this combo will help her be more comfortable. I can feel it in my gut that each day is creeping closer and closer to having the make one of the hardest calls of my life and I just don't know how I will be strong enough to tell someone who is essentially a stranger to end my pets life. I've never had to make that call and Moo is my best bud. She's been with me through a divorce, the death of my only parental figure, many broken hearts, along with all the happy times as well. She's my favorite little snugbug and life without her is going to SUUUUUCK.
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Oct 14, 2015 22:43
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I'm sorry to hear that, but at least you have the confidence that you're doing everything you can for her. I grew up with Sparky and he's my best friend, and always been there for me. I've just kind of taken it for granted how long he's lived, which is already significantly more than most dogs. He's eating now, and slowly getting back to being able to walk on his own(hopefully). I have to steady him as he walks around the house and eats and goes to the bathroom, but apart from that he seems a lot like himself. If he really never gets back enough control to be able to walk around and eat without hurting himself I'm afraid of having to do the same thing you fear. I just have to appreciate what extra time I've been given with him. The potential scenario of having to put him down after the seizure, without even really getting to say goodbye was horrifying combined with how scary the seizure was.
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Oct 15, 2015 02:51
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Roulette posted:Are they mammary glands? If so, you could potentially just have a surgery to remove the lumps and she would heal up in about a week or so. Pretty easy surgery really. I realize this is late and all, but the recommendation for suspected cat mammary cancer is not lumpectomy. Radical, bilateral mastectomy (taking all the mammary glands, normal or not, at once or staged in two surgeries) is the recommended course. Cat mammary masses have something like a 90% chance of being malignant.
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Oct 15, 2015 05:24
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HelloSailorSign posted:I realize this is late and all, but the recommendation for suspected cat mammary cancer is not lumpectomy. Radical, bilateral mastectomy (taking all the mammary glands, normal or not, at once or staged in two surgeries) is the recommended course. Cat mammary masses have something like a 90% chance of being malignant. Sorry for poor choice of words that I used but that is essentially what I meant. Not just like, remove the lump itself but yes the whole tit system needs to go. Moo has had two mastectomies in her life from her previous cancer bouts.
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Oct 15, 2015 23:10
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It might be cheesy but Joe Biden has a quote (about parents who have lost relatives, but it works for any loss) that helped me get through my first pet death: "There will come a day – I promise you – when the thought of your son or daughter, or your husband or wife, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen." It's completely true. The first week I was so distraught I couldn't even shower because I couldn't stand to be alone with my thoughts for that long. Slowly, though, the good memories started to outweigh the memories of her death. I really encourage you to think twice about extending the cat's life if you can't afford it. Speak to your vet about it honestly. They told me that there was no chance she would recover and the absolute best case was also ~6 months more of life. Even though I loved my cat, to me that is not worth getting into tons of debt for. I know she already had a better 11 years with me than most cats do. (She ended up dying before treatment could have been started anyway, just one day after the appointment. So it didn't matter.)
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Oct 20, 2015 17:40
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So the addition of the prednosolone has been a great boost to Moo's overall mood and activity. She is actually acting much like her old self and eating a ton and playing more. Her tumors haven't shrunk but they have been holding steady and not growing which is better than the alternative. Aside from the visible lumps on her you would never know she was going through all this crap these days which is better than she was even a week ago so I'm happy with the choices we've made so far. We are trying a round of carboplatin this Friday to see if the combo might help actually shrink the tumors though.
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Oct 27, 2015 21:18
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Roulette posted:So the addition of the prednosolone has been a great boost to Moo's overall mood and activity. She is actually acting much like her old self and eating a ton and playing more. Her tumors haven't shrunk but they have been holding steady and not growing which is better than the alternative. Aside from the visible lumps on her you would never know she was going through all this crap these days which is better than she was even a week ago so I'm happy with the choices we've made so far. We are trying a round of carboplatin this Friday to see if the combo might help actually shrink the tumors though. That's great, cherish all your time with her! Now for the sad news, I had to put down Sparky this past week. The full dose of prednisone made him like a new dog, walking and running around for two and a half weeks, the vet told us maybe the seizure was a one time thing. Then Tuesday night he had a pair of seizures, then two more when in the vet's care the following day. Wednesday night we visited him and took the vet's advice to not drag it out, since he kept having seizures and had to be kept pretty sedated to hold them off. I held him when they did the shots, and then took him home and dug a grave in the backyard. Some people apparently just leave but Sparky was always there for me so I wanted to be there with him at the end. May 3rd, 1998-October 28, 2015 a long damned life for a dog! 
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Nov 2, 2015 02:09
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My cat Pepper was just diagnosed with cancer and the vet says they can't operate on it, where it is.  They didn't give a timeframe for him though, I'm not sure if that's a good sign for how long he's got left or a bad sign. We're debating trying to find a specialist in the area to take a look at him too, to maybe get a better idea of what stage it is. Either way my family and I have resolved to keep him as comfortable and happy as we can for whatever time we have left with him.
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Nov 7, 2015 21:24
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Hey there, my 13y/o family dog (Whippet-cross, named Poika due to my parents' time in Sweden. Spelt 'Pojke' technically I suppose, but whatever) has a tumor on his flank - just under his armpit-equivalent I guess - that started bleeding a month or so ago. Since then the bleeding has become more frequent and with more blood being lost, caused by him bumping it and scratching himself while running around in the semi-rural area that we live in. So, after seeing the vet it seems like he'll of course need to have it cut out ASAP, if he wants to be able to live out the estimated six months left of his life. However, this is where the purpose of my post comes in. I've tried making searches for this, however I haven't been able to find anything out online regarding this, so I thought I would ask here, to see if anyone could offer any insight. Would any of you be able to give a rough estimate as to what the typical length of the recovery period would be, after an operation like this? Since at the end of December myself and my family are going on a three-week holiday and were planning on leaving him at my grandparents' house while we're away. However whenever this has occurred in the past, as it's not uncommon for us to go overseas every couple of years or so, he seems to have progressively gotten worse and worse when it comes to handling us being gone for an extended duration. (last time we were all away, it resulted in him repeatedly wetting his bedding for a while after we got back, and fretting after a couple of days while we were gone )So by the looks of things, my parents appear to have decided that putting him down would be the best decision, as he might not otherwise be able to fully cope with the recovery period and us being away simultaneously, particularly if he's unlikely to make it more than a few months after this despite how hardy/resilient a whippet he is.
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Nov 11, 2015 11:43
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Honestly, since your vet is familiar with his medical history and knows the size of the tumour and what kind of margins he would need, you should call your vet and ask. They'll be able to give the most accurate answer.
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Nov 12, 2015 03:15
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Braki posted:Honestly, since your vet is familiar with his medical history and knows the size of the tumour and what kind of margins he would need, you should call your vet and ask. They'll be able to give the most accurate answer. Yeah, that's true. Alright, I'll have to see if I can get in touch with them after work, and see if we can figure it out from there.
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Nov 12, 2015 03:27
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