AIBU to not seek further treatment for my cat?

[Tinklewinkle]

I have a cat who has just turned 15

She's been relatively healthy over the years, nothing serious healthwise, although she's started to slow down a bit the last couple of years and her days are mostly spent snoring.

A few weeks ago, she was taken ill. We came down one morning to find her quite distressed, she had collapsed and seemingly lost about half her body weight over night. We rushed her to the vet who discovered she was also almost, if not completely blind

Over the next few weeks she regained her weight and has been happily pottering round the house, mooching around the garden and generally getting on quite well. She hasn't regained her sight but we've lived here 10 years so she knows the house, we're careful about always putting food/litter trays, etc in the same place and she seems to be coping fine.

We've had some blood tests to rule out anything simple and easily treatable which have all come back clear, so the vet thinks she has a brain tumour. The only way to confirm it 100% is to have an MRI scan, then if the scan confirms it she would need an operation followed by chemo.

We had decided (with the full support of the vet) that we would manage any pain/discomfort but seek no further treatment - she's getting on a bit, such an operation followed by the chemo would be too much for her to cope with at 15, there's no guarantees that any of this would work and it would be cruel to put her through it. We also decided not to have the MRI - there is no scanner locally so she'd have to travel some distance and she'd have to be sedated, so we came to the conclusion that if we wouldn't be going for the op/chemo there would be no point in the scan.

However, DH has since changed his mind and wants to go for the scan/op/chemo.

The cat is insured so ££ isn't a consideration here, I personally believe that it's not in the cats best interest to but her through the treatment

Personally, I'd agree with you. Better to provide love and attention for the final weeks/months than put an animal though invasive, and most likely traumatic, treatment which may make little difference in terms of life span.

No I wouldn't. The sedation alone could kill the cat. She's pretty old anyway, I don't think it would be kind to put her through that kind of treatment.

Thank you!

I think DH feels that because she's been so healthy up until now, we should do everything we can for her.

I've also had some negative comments (along the line that I'm the world's worst cat owner who should be reported to the RSPCA) from various people so I'm beginning to doubt myself!

I agree with you completely. At her age the best thing for her is to keep her comfortable and happy for as long as you can. I think to put her through stress, pain and treatment with very little hope of a full recovery would be very unfair on her. If she were 5 years old with a chance of a long and happy life after treatment it would be different, but she isn't. She's an old lady and has lived to a pretty good age for a cat already.

100% agree with those who have gone before me.
You are being kind and acting in her best interests. If only that sort of thing was available to people.
Enjoy her and the time she has left

I agree with you too - that sort of thing is such a big deal, and for an elderly cat, too.

I had to bend down to hug my 13-year-old darling boy when I read this. He was ill about 18 months ago and I thought he was on the way out (don't really know what the problem was but some heavy-duty antibiotics and TLC got him back again), and I said then that I didn't want them to go messing with things that would distress him unnecessarily.

Your cat is happy and loved and hopefully not distressed: that's what any cat could wish for.

With brain cancer in cats you're not talking about 'curing' your cat, you're talking about extending her life with any treatment. Our cat has nasal cancer, is traumatised by trips to the vet, and chemo would have got us a probable 8-24 months 'extra', over the likely 2-7 months untreated. So for the sake of a few more unguaranteed months during which she'll be feeling chemo side effects and getting stressed out over vet trips, is it worth it? For us, no. I feel for you though. ((hugs))

I agree with all the other posters.

I used to work in palliative care and have seen elderly people decide to not under go treatment/scans that would prolong their life for little more than a year because they have balanced the stress that treatment would put them under.

She would suffer having the treatment so it isn't worth putting her through that if she is still going to be unwell/blind etc.

Sorry, not that it matters, but chemo would have got our cat 8-24 months total, including the 2-7 months she would likely have anyway. So it could all have been for 1 extra month, worst case scenario.

I agree with you had something similar - my cat was 15 and developed bone cancer - only "cure" was to amputate her leg and even then no guarantees as vet thought possible the cancer may have spread above where he would amputate
Vet was in agreement we should pts
I would not honestly put your cat through such an ordeal at her age.

YANBU. You've done what you can, and, to put it bluntly, you gave to draw the line somewhere with an animal. for you though

I honestly think they should do this with some humans it would be far kinder.

Difficult one. Getting the investigation done does carry risks with the anaesthetic needed for the MRI, but it may help both you and the vet. It may help you if you need to know for sure what's going on (I've dealt with the odd person who has afterwards regretted not having a diagnosis in case something could have been done, but not many) and may help the vet explain what to look out for and plan for palliative care. Chemo in cats and dogs doesn't cause the same level of side effects as it does in humans as much smaller doses are used, so if you did go down that route your cat may not seem unwell at all. However, going for chemotherapy in an animal is a big undertaking and may require lots if medication at home (not always easy in a cat), special precautions when cleaning out litter trays and may still have some side effects like vomiting and peeing everywhere. Chemo may not be the best/ an option either, depending on the type of tumour.

It may be though that your cat will potter along quite happily for a while more, adapting well to blindness. Have you asked your DH what he expects or wants the outcome of treatment to be? It's unlikely that sight would be restored (depending on what's going on of course) and chemo in animals is rarely aimed at remission so a 'cure' is unlikely.

The other thing to consider is the cost of MRI, it's not cheap, and check-ups, medications and other tests will add up too.

Forgot to say YANBU.

About 2 years ago, we noticed that our cat had got a brown mark in it's eye - didn't appear to be unwell, but the mark got noticeably bigger as time went on. We took him to a specialist at the beginning of 2011, who advised us that it was a melanoma, but as with humans, no way of knowing whether it was benign or malignant without taking a biopsy, which in his case would mean losing the eye. As he had a good quality of life, we decided against any further tests and left him with both eyes, even though we were told that cats adapt remarkably well to having just one eye.

After an uneventful year, he suddenly became ill over the course of a weekend, refusing to eat and after 24 hours, started struggling to believe. We took him to the emergency vet, who did a superb job of caring for him, and confirmed that he had a massive tumour in his chest. Very sadly we had to have him put to sleep 2 days later as he was very distressed and was not going to recover.

I have no doubt that this was a secondary tumour to his eye, which we could have treated if we had gone ahead with exhaustive tests when the melanoma was first diagnosed. However, my lovely cat had 12 happy months, in good health until right before the end and that was far more valuable than putting him through the stress and discomfort of endless scans and chemo. He too was insured, so this wasn't a financially based decision.

It was hugely distressing to lose our 12 year old cat so suddenly but I am grateful for the extra year that we had with him in bllissful ignorance.

Go with your instinct - it's never easy, but the most important thing is the cat's quality of life.

I think you are doing the kindest thing for your cat- it sounds like she has a good quality of life as she is.

My mums dog recently had an MRI and surgery for thyroid cancer- but he was a lot younger and recovered well. My Mum did decide if it returns or he needed chemo/radiotherapy she would not put him through that again and just keep him comfortable.

YANBU

*struggling to breath, not struggling to believe!

Agree with you, its too much to put an old cat through operations etc. I would go with managing any pain/discomfort.

God almighty, chemo is stressful enough when you're human and understand what's happening and why.

All she's going to knowis that she feels rotten and no-one is helping.

Give your DH a kick up the arse and carry on as you are. (And if he carries on offer to randomly sneak something in to his food that is basically poison and willmakehim so pukey and nauseous that the only thing he wants is to crawl in to bed and die)

Sorry you sound like you're sensible and a loving cat owner, it just makes me so angry when people put poor animals through stuff like this when it is not a cure, they're doing it for themselves not the animal. Part of being a good pet owner is taking the responsibility to do what is best for the animal not for them.

And deep breath. . .sorry.

Another yanbu, I've always chosen palliative care with elderly animals until the point comes when their life is no longer enjoyable to them, I would never put jubilicat through stress like this just to win a few more months.

At least your vet isn't pressurising you towards extreme measures, unlike a certain chainbrand-vet round here.

I am a big cat lover, vegetarian and big on animal rights, but I agree with you. It would be cruel to put her through all of that. They don't understand why you would be doing all that so it would be very distressing. Love, care and pain relief are what she needs.

Ignore other people, sometimes the right way to do things is not the most popular one.

YANBU. I would do the same. I adore my kitty, but she doesn't understand that painful treatment is a means to an end. I think it adds to the suffering. I had my last cat PTS 2 years ago when I felt the investigations and treatment were too much for her. She was only 5 .

So sorry for your situation. My beloved cat was diagnosed with GI lymphoma when she was 15. We went all out for treatment and got her referred to the frankly amazing VRCC.

Two and a half years on she's in remission and it was money, time, effort and tears well spent. If you're even debating it it is always worth seeing a specialist consultant to see what the prognosis is, especially if you've got insurance. Do bear in mind that even with insurance the whole course of treatment might not be covered.

Our insurance paid out £4k but that only covered initial investigstions, an op to treat peritonitis after her biopsy and her emergency care thereafter. That said, we knew the likely costs before we went into it.

If you need more info about chemo I'm happy to tell you what happened with us. Suffice to say she took it extremely well and had no real side effects. The hardest thing was giving her her daily steroid tablet but that got easier.

It's a very tough decision and I'm thinking of you.

Thank you!

I think what DH finds upsetting is the blindness. She was very much a very independant, outdoor cat. She treated the house like a hotel and us with barely concealed contempt.

I think the insurance is making it difficult for him as well, we personally don't have to find the money, so why wouldn't we do it? if you see what I mean. If she was a younger cat, I'd totally agree with him.

However, the vet has said that it is very, very unlikely that her sight will ever be restored so any treatment would purely be to prolong her life.

We had decided against the MRI as we felt that it would be no walk in the park for her either. We're at least an hour away from the nearest scanner and she's always found being in the car/cat carrier very distressing, and also the sedation aspect.

The vet is pretty sure it's a brain tumour, she first noticed a speck in one eye, and over time, where her pupils are now fully dilated all the time, one of the eyes is a normal black, but the other has a green sheen which goes white in certain light.

She seems happy, doesn't seem in pain so I'm happy to go with the flow and cross each bridge as we come to it.

Maybe, a compromise could be that we go for the MRI, maybe put his mind at rest that we've done all we can/should

Thanks!