My poor little boy cat has liver cancer

[Gigi00]

Yesterday we took our lovely cat of 12 years to the vet. Due to abdominal swelling and rapid weight loss.

After a scan and blood test it was confirmed he has a cancerous growth on his liver.

We have been told chemo wouldn't be recommended and we should give him a happy life with his remaining time.

He has been prescribed Mirtazipine which is to help him gain weight. Has anyone had experience of this working for their cat?

It's unknown how long he has until we need to PTS, i just don't know what to do. Obviously i want the best for him.

I feel devastated seeing him so helpless and skinny in comparison to his previously large fluffy 7kg Norweigan forest cat self 😢😢

Just to add to the above - his full blood test showed his liver is still functioning normally despite the cancer

Pamper him while he looks like he is still enjoying life.
BUT be aware that cats are experts at masking pain. They may purr to cope with pain rather than contentment
Look out for unusual behaviour - hiding in odd places, 'missing' the litter box, not enjoying his food, purring for no obvious reason.
Above all, remember it's better to PTS one day too soon than too late.
I'm so sorry. We have all been there.

Honestly at this point I'd put him to sleep 😥

Anything liver related is horrible, my cat ended up jaundiced and became unwell very quickly.

I wouldn't wait until he's suffering...

Thank you all for your advice 🙏🏻

So sorry, OP. Our lovely girl had cancer and we opted to let her go while she was “well”. We’d brought her back and forth to the vet for puking several times, but beside that you would never ever have guessed she was poorly. When I pushed for more tests it turned out she had intestinal lymphoma and that chemo would have only prolonged her life (12 months max) rather than cured her.

I couldn’t bear the thought of her becoming skinny and sad and going downhill. On her last day she was racing about the garden, laid out in the sunshine for a nap, had her favourite foods, and we said goodbye telling her how much we loved her. Maybe we went in too soon but I think we took the pain so she didn’t have to. We miss her so much 🤍

Its heart breaking, im so sorry to hear about your precious girl

I feel so torn as to what decision to make, he is a very friendly boy and always purring. Hard to tell how he really feels

• @Judystilldreamsofhorses

It’s absolutely heart breaking. Your poor lad and poor you. We were blindsided by the diagnosis - even at the fancy specialist referral place the fancy specialist vet said she thought we were looking at an IBS type thing, then the scans showed otherwise. Our own vet was as shocked as we were.

I just couldn’t stand to think of her suffering, much as it ripped my heart out. I know my DP would have watched and waited with the vet’s support though.

That is also the decision I'd have made. Unfortunately. Cats are very good at hiding pain.