When to PTS ...

[DartmoorDoughnut]

My lovely old girl (15 and a bit) has had a cyst on her neck for a couple of years following a reaction from vaccinations. It’s never bothered her and was a relatively small lump but the last few months has doubled in size and constantly leaking fluid. She’s seen the vet for it a couple of times. Vets have given her an antibiotic injection on Wednesday as she’s given herself a bit of a skin infection around the area from scratching. Today I’ve had to empty it three times - I just clean it with salt water and then dry the area with kitchen towel, takes about two sheets for it to stop oozing mainly clear fluid.

Sorry I’m wittering on!

She is clearly uncomfortable with it and it keeps refilling so quickly that she’s going to have to have it done at least three times a day. Vet is not keen on operating due to her age.

I’m thinking that I’ll see how she is in 2 weeks when abx have worn off and then make a decision?

Sorry DH just says “whatever you think” as she’s my cat but I don’t want to leave it too late OR do it too early

I'm so sorry about your lovely cat. If she is already visibly uncomfortable, she is in far more discomfort/pain than you might realise. Dogs and cats are very good at concealing how much pain they are in. I would be putting her to sleep because her quality of life is suffering tremendously. I know how hard this is. We love our little friends so much and saying goodbye is heartbreaking.

She’s lovely, and looks content in those photos. Good plan to reassess in 2 weeks, and talk to vet again. It’s such a hard decision.

My question would be what are the chances of a successful operation. It is risky but could the issue be solved by the operation.

She's a gorgeous girl. How is she in herslef at the moment, ie does she seem happy enough other than you having to clean the cyst?

If it's an ongoing problem, I'd say first speak to the vet before the two weeks is up just in case there's anything think else they can come up with, different antibiotics. Also, when the ABs are about to run out, discuss if it's worth another dose.

If the above doesn't help, then assess in two weeks time. You can discuss with vet before making a final decision. You'll probably have a feel for how she is in herself anyway and what's fair to her.

It's not easy as they get older, you love them so much, but I just knew when I felt the time was right with my two.

If she's otherwise completely fit then I'd give the operation a chance. We had almost exactly the same situation with our old boy (a lump at his injection site). We decided to go ahead, the operation was a success and he lived another 4 years until he was 20.

We had already agreed that if it wasn't successful we wouldn't put him through another operation (and we fully understood that the operation at that age was high risk) - but thought it was worth a go. In his case it was clearly worth it.

Thank you all

She really is the sweetest little girl, very undemanding and has never caught a bird.

She sleeps a LOT now, other than eating she’s sleeping, she doesn’t like to jump up any more, probably because it causes the cyst to open again I guess, but she reappears at breakfast and dinner time and I lift her up onto the work top for her food - I can’t put it down as my almost 15yr old collie x eats EVERYTHING!

I’ll see how the weekend goes and maybe discuss with a vet again next week. Quite hard to get all the info in a car park whilst wearing masks! Essentially even with the extra blood tests she gave her a 50/50 chance of coming through the operation and that’s not how I want to possibly say goodbye to her. Not to mention the fact that our DC (5 & 3) would probably be traumatised by her going to the vets to be made better and then not coming home.

Cross posted with you @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats very good to hear your experience with almost exactly the same thing! Thank you

Just thought I’d let you all know that my lovely girl is still happily ticking along, I’m cleaning the cyst three times a day and she is quite happy with that so we’ll just keep on keeping on as we are for now.

Good. I’d do the same too.

Good to hear op ❤️

Glad your lovely girl is doing well. I just wanted to add that my very old lady (who celebrated her 22nd birthday in May) had an operation when she was 19 (to remove some manky teeth). You could always consult another vet about removing the cyst.

I understand the worry about making ‘the’ decision. Although my old gal seems content and is still going about her business, she’s getting thinner and smellier 😔 I literally can’t imagine life without her.

Just an update in case it’s useful to anyone in the future going through the same thing. Puss cat is still with us, the cyst has now reached a point where it has to be operated on OR it’s time to have her PTS.

As she is, despite now being 16 and a bit, absolutely fine other than the cyst I’ve decided to risk the operation and she’ll be going in around the 13th hopefully.

Cost wise it’ll be around £600, again just adding that info in case it’s useful.

Some photos of her gorgeousness from the last couple of months and one of the now horrendous cyst. I know it looks awful but she has been having regular vet check ups and it is cleaned a couple of times a day at least, this is it before cleaning.

OP I would also have asked for surgery. I hope all goes well. Please keep us updated.♥️

Best of luck to you both.

Operation went well she’s been munching on sardines mixed with rice and although I’m meant to keep her quiet she’s jumped up onto the kitchen table and sofa bless her!

She looks very perky, she'll crash when the ketamine leaves her system.

@Fluffycloudland77 you called it

Aww. I've never tried drugs but it looks fun.

My beautiful girl was PTS yesterday evening. She’d been diagnosed with mouth sarcoma and was tired. Almost 17 years with my lovely lovely girl, going to miss her loads

Sorry about your lovely cat. You were kind to her, and that is no more than she deserved.

Oh what a sad update OP - she’d done so well to come through that operation and now this. It sounds likely she was a totally adored member of the family and had a lovely life - how lucky for her that you could help her in the end. Sending best wishes to you