Cat has cancer - WWYD

[catonabin]

Our girl moggy is about 11-12 and has a mammary tumour.

I feel like I'm not getting very clear advice one way or the other from our vet on the best thing to do for her.

It sounds like it's quite an aggressive form a cancer in cats and she probably needs two surgeries to remove the entire mammary chain on both sides and her lymph nodes, and even then it seems very uncertain how successful that will be.

We're insured but will max-out our insurance cover with the surgeries.

I've been through similar with our first cat (bowel cancer in that case) - she had multiple surgeries but still died within a couple of months - with hindsight I wouldn't have put her through so much.

WWYD? I feel like putting her through a lot of surgeries which might not extend her life that much is maybe not in anyone's best interest. But then also feel maybe I'm letting past experience cloud my judgement and maybe we should try to give her the best chance.

Grateful for any advice or other experiences!

So sorry to see your update @catonabin - when I had my first ddog PTS my lovely vet said to me “it’s the last and greatest act of kindness we do for them” and that’s stuck with me through all subsequent rescues (on number 5 now!) and has really influenced my view that it’s not fair to keep our dear pets alive but in pain. I hope dcat goes peacefully when her time comes

I was going to advocate not operating, but I see it's now out of the question anyway - I'm so sorry. Unlike humans who will understand their future prognosis and make up their own minds what they want, animals just need to be made comfortable imo. Having to suffer unnecessarily isn't kind. I had a cat with a suspected brain tumour though I decided not to pay the price for a scan to find out. Main symptoms were epileptic fits which were treatable and she lived happily for another 5 years. Died very suddenly over the course of a day so wasn't PTS either (was unconscious for most of it).

If it were me, I'd max out the insurance in the event any surgery would improve her quality of life. If it is just going to extend suffering, I don't see the point.

My boy died at 14 of stomach cancer. We didn't have insurance but would have paid outright for anything that would have put him at ease or surgeries etc.

But, there was nothing we could do but palliative care until the end. So, sympathetic diet, pain medicine when needed etc.

Sorry you're going through this with your little cat x