Cat with oral cancer, think it's nearly time. Hand-holding please...

[WhoeverYouWantMeToBe]

My lovely little 16-year-old cat who my parents have had since I was 13, has cancer of the mouth. No options of treatment are suitable as she is pretty much elderly for a cat anyway. Vet advised to just see how she goes and that she could live 3-4 months. However she has gone downhill a lot recently, struggling to eat, not herself at all, not eating much. She's due a check-up in couple of days and think vet will say it's her time to go if that's the case during the appt, does the vet put them down straight away or do you go back at a later date?
Any hand-holding greatly appreciated
Thanks.

[chockbic]

Oh hand hold, awful.

If the vet suggests its time, he/she will do it there and then.

Its peaceful for the cat

[knittedslippersx2]

So sorry. I think you can choose weather to put to sleep there and then or you can book to go back at a later date if you want to take her home for a final goodbye. She's a good age and is obviously very loved.

[BlackWings]

Handholding .
It's always difficult to let beloved pets go. With oral cancer it really is a case of the tumours getting to a size where it makes eating difficult. Whatever the vet says it will be upto you when you want to let her go. If you decide to have her put to sleep on the day you'll get the option of spending a bit of time alone with her before the injection. Or you can decide to take her home and return in a day or two.

[sorryhadtonamechange]

Thankyou, vet has upped her painkillers and said that as she is still eating, she is ok "for now" but to review her daily.

[cozietoesie]

Handholding also.

At this stage of the game, it's all about the cat and what's best for her so I think I'd let her go at the vet's checkup - if not sooner. I know that when Seniorboy's day comes - which can't be that long away, sadly - I'll take him to the vet if I have the option and if I can hold it together as a last gift to him. He doesn't mind the vet these days because he thinks that he gets his jab for whatever (usually ABs) and then comes home. That time, he just wouldn't go home - but he wouldn't know that, and that's important.

It's very hard though.

[timtam23]

So sorry to hear about your cat

I had exactly this situation a few months ago with my lovely 18 year old boycat, he had tongue cancer. He was given an injection of steroids initially which gave a miraculous response but it was fairly shortlived. From the vet thinking at first that he might have a few months of reasonable quality of life, we actually had to have him put to sleep within a couple of weeks - once he started to really struggle to eat or drink.
For his last week we had him on steroid tablets and once we had made the decision to have him put to sleep, we gave him extra doses of steroids and made a huge fuss of him over one weekend before taking him to the vet. It is good to have some nice last memories of him.

One tip for food is that we ended up giving my cat kitten food mashed up very very finely with extra water added - he managed to slurp it up although on his last morning it was very difficult for him to manage much.

We made a separate appointment for him to be put to sleep as I wanted to do it first thing in the morning, couldn't stand the idea of being in the vet's waiting room with him when it was full of other people and probably dogs, also didn't want to walk out afterwards into a waiting room when I wa crying my eyes out . The vet was really nice and I was able to wait for her in the consultation room with the cat, rather than the waiting room - I was also able to spend as much time as I liked with the cat afterwards which was some comfort.

Sorry for the essay!

[TalkinPeace]

I went through this yesterday.
Sadly you, like I, know what has to be done.