Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

6 year old cat diagnosed with terminal cancer. Heartbroken :(

24 replies

Chris1095 · 08/03/2023 14:23

My mini panther has been gradually losing weight over the last six or so months. Backwards and forwards to the vet, couldn't find anything wrong. No other symptoms. Got far worse in January so I insisted on more tests. Then a couple of weeks ago the area around one eye started swelling and his eye weeping. After six weeks of blood tests, scans, biopsies and CT scans and ruling out FIV, feline leukaemia, FIP, toxoplasmosis, coronavirus and countless other things, they've today confirmed the worst - he has a malignant mass behind his eye and in his lungs. I'm heartbroken. Vet called this morning to confirm. He had a steroid and antibiotic jab two days ago and had really perked up so I was optimistic that it was just a bad infection. Vet advised putting him to sleep is the best option - tumour behind eye could be removed but his eye would also need to be removed to get to it and there's no guarantee after having put him through all that that it would give him much longer and vet doesn't think it we should do it (nor do I). Plus it's already spread to his lungs. Steroids could keep him going for a few more months and/or chemo if we wanted to go down that route. I'm desperate to hang onto him for a while longer but I can't bear to think that he might be suffering. Vet thinks he isn't too much yet but the eye growth may start to give him headaches. I know what we need to do. So unfair, he's so young. We're moving soon to a house with a huge garden which backs onto woods and he would have been so happy there :( Do I do this now or see how he goes? He was purring and cuddling up to me last night and is eating better - vet said this was because of the steroid injection he'd given him. He was a rescue, he and his siblings were dumped at a sanctuary, and we've had him since he was 9 weeks old. Vet is surprised that he has this so young. I can't really take it in.

OP posts:
BatFaceOwl · 08/03/2023 14:40

Oh dear the poor thing. Sorry to read this

It's a kindness to put him to sleep as you know. Don't leave it as cats don't relay pain very well and you don't want to try and keep him going when it's not in his best interests

CatChant · 08/03/2023 14:48

Oh that’s cruel news. No wonder it’s difficult to take in. Your poor boy should have had years yet.

Hard as it is, I would let him go sooner rather than later - before he is in pain. A gentle, pain-free passing is the last gift you can give him.

I am so sorry. Be kind to yourself and remember you gave an abandoned kitten a happy life with you.

Toddlerteaplease · 09/03/2023 22:20

That's very sad. But I would also be PTS sooner rather than later. Cats are very good at hiding pain.

CoQ10 · 09/03/2023 22:23

💕

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/03/2023 22:27

Very Sad

The steroids do increase the appetite , it seems the kindest scenario to let your mini panther go while he has some quality of life and enjoying the cuddles and food .
Don;t let him wait till he suffers and hides it from you .
Yoou;ve given him a lovely life and yes it;s a shame he won;t get to run riot in his new house , but he won;t know that so won;t miss it .

Flowers
Rainraingoawaycomeagainanotherday · 09/03/2023 22:37

Our little cat 8 years old has just been diagnosed with cancer. It is very sad and I felt a bit unfair as he is not old. 6 years is even more unfair.

We did not proceed with any investigations/chemo as it was obviously not going to be curable and he particularly hates the vets (we also live quite far from the nearest). He too had a steroid injection and has brightened up considerably. It's a different type of cancer (abdominal) but the vet suggested that he would have at least a few comfortable weeks as the steroid would shrink the tumour (or rather the associated inflammation). Would this be the same for your cat? Can your vet advise you about this?

Our vague plan was to PTS at the point he begins to lose his appetite again. It's a bit different with the eye as potential for more rapidly progressive symptoms I guess, due to limited space for the tumour to grow in. So sorry this has happened ❤️

Our cat was also a rescue from being an abandoned kitten, tiny and all alone. He has always been small, runty and needy. We have given him a good, loving home in the time that he has. He has no awareness of what is happening. No abstract fear of death. No dread. It's not a bad death or even a bad life, compared to so many unwanted, abandoned or exploited animals. I know that doesn't necessarily make it feel better. You will miss him.

longtompot · 09/03/2023 23:10

I am so sorry to read about your cat. It is awful to hear that news.
I'll tell you about our 8 year old boy. He was losing weight which was very noticeable as he was a chunky ginger tom. My dh took him to the vets and I expected him to come home and say he had diabetes or something like that, not that he has stomach cancer. He was given a steroid injection which helped him get stronger and get through Christmas. With hindsight I wish we hadn't done that, and let him go. When he started to lose weight again we booked him in to be pts but sadly he died during the night before and we have awful memories of that night. I am very much of the better a week too soon than too late way of thinking, especially with how he went💐

Rainraingoawaycomeagainanotherday · 09/03/2023 23:11

Not to hijack the thread but thank you longtompot that is really good info to know

Clarich007 · 10/03/2023 17:15

Oh I am so so sorry to hear the bad news about your lovely boy.
You wouldn't want him to suffer headaches and pains in his chest would you.
Cats mask pain really well as a survival instinct
Hard as it is I'm afraid I would let him go gently before he starts to suffer. 💐

StillMedusa · 10/03/2023 22:03

I'm so sorry.
I lost two of my Maine Coons to cancer... Morpheus from bone cancer at 12, and this time last year Ophelia at 7. Ophie's was fast and aggressive... she lost weight over a 3 week period.. took her for a check up.. vet felt a mass. That was on a friday. By Monday when we went back for results she had lost even more and the tumor was huge inside, wrapped around her organs. She was PTS the next day.

The reason we had her PTS straight away was because I DIDN'T with Morph. He had a slow decline before we knew it was cancer.. lots of tests, lots of pills, days when he looked 'better'. So because I couldn't bear to lose my soul mate I was responsible for him suffering longer than he should have done. He hid it too well because he was a cat.

I will never forgive myself for that. It's 8 years ago and it still breaks my heart that he's gone, and I should have let him go sooner.

Please love you precious boy for the weekend... but then make that call and don't let him suffer. You are suffering now you know, he is suffering but you can let him be PTS at home in your arms and you won't regret keeping him alive as I do my boy.

Battlecat98 · 10/03/2023 22:25

StillMedusa · 10/03/2023 22:03

I'm so sorry.
I lost two of my Maine Coons to cancer... Morpheus from bone cancer at 12, and this time last year Ophelia at 7. Ophie's was fast and aggressive... she lost weight over a 3 week period.. took her for a check up.. vet felt a mass. That was on a friday. By Monday when we went back for results she had lost even more and the tumor was huge inside, wrapped around her organs. She was PTS the next day.

The reason we had her PTS straight away was because I DIDN'T with Morph. He had a slow decline before we knew it was cancer.. lots of tests, lots of pills, days when he looked 'better'. So because I couldn't bear to lose my soul mate I was responsible for him suffering longer than he should have done. He hid it too well because he was a cat.

I will never forgive myself for that. It's 8 years ago and it still breaks my heart that he's gone, and I should have let him go sooner.

Please love you precious boy for the weekend... but then make that call and don't let him suffer. You are suffering now you know, he is suffering but you can let him be PTS at home in your arms and you won't regret keeping him alive as I do my boy.

Oh gosh this is so sad. I am sorry for you both. It really is the hardest part of owning a cat but, we know it's the last kind thing we can do for them.

hattie43 · 10/03/2023 22:29

I'm so sorry , life can be so cruel .

Whoknowswhatanymore · 10/03/2023 22:33

I’m a cat owner of many years and I totally feel for him and you. Please do what you know is right. Thoughts and prayers with you at this very sad time xxxx

crazeecatladee · 10/03/2023 22:38

Oh how awful for you.. I know your pain. We were there with our first feline master. He developed water on the lung, and the night before he died he looked at me with such sad eyes. He couldn't even jump onto his favourite chair! We took him to the vet the following day where he died on the operating table. In time the sadness will fade, but the memories never will. That was over 40yrs ago and there is still a hole in our hearts for him.

Rebel2 · 10/03/2023 22:47

I would have a lovely weekend with him and then say goodbye Flowers

CatLove4 · 10/03/2023 23:04

I’m so sorry, we just lost our 7 yo after having her for 5 years. Steroids seem to help her appetite but it also helped her mask a lot. I’ll never be quite sure if she struggled on not in her last few weeks, but she sure fooled me.

make the most of the time you have

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 11/03/2023 00:31

You know the very well known phrase about better a week too early than a day too late ?

There's also The pain you feel now is so they don't have to

So very true .
Flowers

Chris1095 · 13/03/2023 16:15

Thank you for all your kind comments. I have arranged for a vet to come to our house tomorrow to put him to sleep 😢 he seems to have declined over the weekend and looks sad .. although this could be grogginess from the painkillers. But his eye area looks worse. He’s laying next to me on the bed asleep now and I can’t believe he won’t be here this time tomorrow 💔 I know I’m doing the right thing for him but it’s so hard 😞

OP posts:
Chris1095 · 13/03/2023 16:17

This is the CT scan of his eye, you can see the mass by it 😢

6 year old cat diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Heartbroken :(
OP posts:
Chris1095 · 13/03/2023 16:18

This is the CT scan of his eye, you can see the mass by it 😢

6 year old cat diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Heartbroken :(
OP posts:
CatChant · 13/03/2023 18:11

You are doing the right thing for him but, yes, it is so very hard to let them go.

Take care of yourself.

Quisquam · 13/03/2023 20:33

We took our 5 month old cat to the vets, because she had been eating and drinking like a horse - we thought it was just a young cat. Then I felt a mass! It was an ovarian cancer, the size of a small tennis ball that had come on in 6 weeks! The vet had checked her 6 weeks before and felt nothing untoward.

They took her in on New Years Day and removed her ovaries and uterus. The vet pathology report said it was highly aggressive, probably passed on from her mother and it would come back to kill her! The vet told me, he went by what he saw and he had removed all of it!

She lived another 16 years, when an aggressive lymphoma developed and we had her pts at home.

Iheartlibrarians · 16/03/2023 16:39

I am very sorry for your loss, OP, and hope you are bearing up.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/03/2023 12:05

Hopefully your little cats passing was quiet and serene and you can find peace that you did it as the right thing for him
Flowers

New posts on this thread. Refresh page