Need a handhold..likely tumour

[Catcatcat111]

My poor cat is only just 9, has a big lump on his paw and vet thinks it’s likely sarcoma. Due to where it is, they probably won’t be able to cut it out so may have to take whole leg. He’s fine in himself.
At the moment it’s all academic because they’ve sent fluid sample for more tests. But I don’t think I could have his leg amputated - he’s really fat (not really our fault, very sociable and breaks into other houses!), is getting older, it’s a front leg which is apparently worse and we have a dog - will be hard for the cat to have quiet space to rest.
What would you do? He seems comfortable so I’m tempted to see if they can recommend anything to reduce tumour growth and give him as happy a time as I can while he’s here. But is that wrong? I can’t bear the thought of him suffering.

I’d be guided by the vet. Our girl got intestinal lymphoma last year and the specialist vet was very clear that treating her (with chemo or steroids) would only prolong her life for a short time. We actually opted to pts while she was still well in herself as we couldn’t bear the idea of her suffering and going downhill - it was heartbreaking as she was only ten. If they’d been able to treat to cure (like amputating a leg) I would have done whatever it took without a second thought if it would have given her a good quality of life.

I know two tripod cats, both with missing front legs as it happens, and they are fine. One is out and about and you wouldn’t even know he was short a limb, the other had always been an indoor cat. (Neither is a big cat though so appreciate your situation may be different if your boy is a chonk.)

I’m so sorry, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. He is a complete chonk which makes me feel really guilty as is likely to make decisions more difficult.

We had a black cat with an aggressive oral carcinoma who was still plump with a glossy coat on the day we took her to be pts. The vet said eating and grooming would become harder for her and she'd be prone to infections because there was a big hole in her jaw. Delilah wasn't by any means the stereotypical cancer sufferer (I've come across some humans who weren't either) but because we knew her, we could see her disappearing into the disease. She was a very sociable cat, but she wanted to spend all her time in my husband's wardrobe. We decided it would be kinder for her and easier for us if we let her go while she still had some dignity. We gave her a weekend of thorough spoiling, then on the Monday, after more of her favourite tuna, we took her in. I agree that having a chunky chonker cat makes it harder, because they don't look as if they are ill, but they are, very much so and with something that's only going to get worse.