Cat diagnosed with cancer, any experience?

[mycatissick]

My gorgeous cat has just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in his salivary gland. He has a very large lump in his neck which took a while to spot because of his colour (black) but also seems to have grown really quickly.

Anyone got any experience of this?

Hi there
One of my cats had nasal cancer. The carcinoma was in his soft palate/ throat area. Not accessible by surgery and treatments available were palliative only. What are you planning to do? Is he on medication for discomfort? Meta cam can slow down the growth of certain cancers. Sorry to hear about your puss.

Sorry about your cat, OP. I wish I had a good story for you. How old is he? What options is vet suggesting?

He is only 10. All we know so far is it is an aggressive cancer in his salivary gland ☹️ the vets are waiting for advice from more experienced surgeons.

He doesn't appear to be in any pain at all, no change in behaviour or weight loss etc just a very large lump in his neck.

Name change fail 🤦‍♀️

My gut feeling is they won't be able to operate on it.

I also feel like I don't want to put him through stressful treatment for the sake of a few extra months. He HATES going anywhere in the car. He reacts really badly to it and is sick for hours afterwards. I don't want to put him through multiple vet visits.

Ours has a stomach tumour, put on steroids had a wonderful extra 10 months with him. I think chemo for cats is too traumatic they hate being moved around etc.

I hope there might be something they can do to give us a bit more time with him, I just don't want him to suffer. He is such a lovely and affectionate cat, I'm going to miss him so much 😭

😢

My cat's just been diagnosed at CHAT Canning Town with aggressive cancer, given 2-3 months but not looking like she'll last that long. Don't want to stress her out again with car ride for euthanasia, anyone know a vet who'll do a home exit visit for a reasonable price in Walthamstow E17?

PS thought Animal Friends £100,000 giveaway closed 9/10, but tried to vote for CHAT and got 'already closed' message. Is there another link?

So sorry to hear that OP. I’ve had cats with cancer but not in that location. Is he insured? Your best bet is to see a surgeon who specialises in this area, there may be treatment possibilities even if that’s only palliative care.

@GMFLondon we're going to get the vets to come to us too, he hates being in the car so I'm not going to put him through that at the end.

Hi OP,

Sorry to hear about your cat.

My cat had nasal cancer. We opted to give chemo a go. By the time the cancer was finally diagnosed he was very poorly. It gave him an extra 16 months. The improvement with just 2 sessions was huge. I have absolutely no regrets. As soon as the treatment stopped working we stopped.

My advice would be to just to have a good think about the various treatments that may be possible. Ultimately though only you can make the decisions and you know your cat best.

Good Luck

So so sorry OP unfortunately I have no advice. xx

So sorry OP. My elderly cat developed tongue cancer at the end of his life. He was too old & frail for anything other than palliative care. He had steroids which helped at first (he perked up and ate quite well) but the progression was pretty quick. I think within 3 weeks we took him to be put to sleep because he was struggling to eat and drink. Maybe steroids could help your cat too - they can shrink the tumour down a little and they help with appetite/general well-being.

Just a handhold . I understand, my cat HATES going to the vets and is very aggressive there - not a popular patient - we try to restrict his visits to annual check-ups because it upsets him so much. I think you will know when time is right. X

Sorry, just seen your other post and hope you find a vet that can come to you. Stupid question but have you asked CHAT for advice?

Heard back from the specialist vets today and basically they have said there is very little chance of anything working long term due to the size of the cancer and it has probably already spread. Therefore we've decided to just keep him with us as long as he is comfortable and then say goodbye with him here at home. The vets can come out and do it when we call them. We don't know how long we have left with him but we won't let him suffer. Thanks for all the advice and support.

thanks for the update, sorry about your moggie. He's gorgeous, btw. I'm sure you've given him a great life. x

@mycatissick so sorry for the outcome and support your decision to keep him with you where he feels safe and comfortable. He's a beauty. You only have his best interests at heart.

Just wanted to update this thread for anyone who searches in the future. We've had two and a bit lovely months with our cat but unfortunately we're having him put to sleep today. The tumour has got so big on the side of his face that he struggles to eat food unless it is mushed up and also struggles to find a comfortable position to sleep in. He is going to be very missed. Thanks for all the support and advice given previously.

I am so sorry, you gave him so much love and a good life and lots of TLC at the end . 🌺🌸🌼x