I’d appreciate people’s views here please.
Our beloved oldie lad Alfie will be 17 in July. We had him as a kitten back in 2004 from a rescue centre with his mum. She passed away in 2018.
Alfie has been a treasure, he’s a super chilled and laid back lad who loves everything and everyone. This last year or two he’s become increasingly arthritic in his back legs and is now very very stiff and limps and sleeps most of the time upstairs. He is still eating and using the tray fine but definitely withdrawn from life more.
We have 2 other younger cats who he ignores and they ignore him. He was great friends with our beloved dog Ben who we lost to liver cancer aged 12 in January which has been devastating.
Alf has had a scabby area on his chest for over a year which the vet has been treating with creams. It has got bigger and the vet biopsyied it - it’s a skin cancer 😢
So the decision- vet recommended we have it surgically removed as it may spread - which it may have already. We have had full bloods run which have come back as very good for his age. I’ve booked him in for 2 weeks time but am really unsure. If he was 10 it’s a no brainier but he’s on old chap. My dh and ds think we should give him the chance as does our vet whose views I do trust but I worry about how Alf will cope and putting him through it unnecessarily.