Younger kitty’s pathology came back. Not osteosarcoma, but it is some other type of sarcoma of indeterminate origin. Vet suspects it’s injection site sarcoma based the tumor location and on kitty’s history of being a rescue cat from an overseas country. This type of cancer is even more aggressive than osteosarcoma. Treatment is the same–radical amputation. Mean survival is 6-24 months post amputation. But that depends in the size of the tumor. Her tumor has been growing rapidly, almost exponentially in the last week. When I first noticed the lump on Sunday evening it was about the of unshelled filbert nut. Today it’s larger than extra large chicken egg. This means kitty’s prognosis even post amputation is poor.
SIL and D1 are at loggerheads over how to proceed. D1 doesn’t want to amputate, but rather provide comfort care until it’s time to euthanize. SIL is having a hard time admitting the cat is fatally ill and wants to pursue aggressive treatment.
This kitty is very, very anxious and any trip to the vet is a hours long ordeal trying to catch her. After the vet visit, she will hide for a day or more, not even coming out to eat. Kitty was a semi-feral rescue. She grew up in street cat colony and still has a lot of “wild” behaviors.
I personally believe amputation is something she won’t tolerate very well and kitty will experience a significant lessening of her quality of life. But she’s not my cat and frankly I am heart-sore still after the loss of my sweet boy 2 weeks ago so I’m relieved it’s not my decision to make.
Well, my cat is using his cat wheel at least sometimes. I THINK he freaks himself out when he gets going too fast and doesn’t know how to stop “elegantly.” I’d like him to use it a lot more, but at least he will use it some on his own. I need to figure out how to train him to stop better. There are videos of cats going very fast, but I haven’t seen any mention of how they stop.
Anyone who needs to make the decision to say goodbye, I highly recommended in-home services if available. We did that for our kitties (in different cities, so different services). All were incredibly kind and patient, and memories far better than when we brought our first pet to the vet.
I don’t disagree with that, but I have to give kudos to our vet which goes above and beyond when you have to make that choice and go with in-office option.
We are going back and forth about using an in-home service. Cat gets stressed when she is taken to the vet, but she also hides for hours whenever a stranger comes into the house. It’s not clear to me which would be less stressful to the poor kitty. (Also there are 3 kids under 5 in the house. Having the euthanasia done in house might be traumatic for them. One child is very sensitive and will likely react badly.)
D1 and husband have decided on comfort care and not to amputate the tumorous leg. Kitty does not seem to be in any pain right now. We have gabapentin on hand for her for pain relief and to help with any anxiety. D will euthanize sooner rather than later. As soon as kitty start showing any signs of pain, or if the tumor starts to ulcerate, or if kitty starts biting or excessively licking at the tumor.
Bandit is on the left (he looks like he has a black mask over his eyes. The boy on the right was named Tux by the shelter, but D has renamed him Scout. Bandit has adjusted very quickly to his new home, but Scout is still a bit wary, but is coming out of his shell.
If my cat uses his $500 cat wheel for 30 seconds a day, how many days will it take to get a positive return on investment… lol.
I don’t think this cat wheel is having any impact on his prey drive. I don’t know how to teach him to use it for longer than a few seconds at a time (except when I’m giving him treats for a minute or 2 to try and teach him). He seems to like to jump onto it, make it go around a time or two, and then jump off it. Early on I think my husband got him to use it to go fast and then he literally fell off from the top, which freaked him out.
Talking about cats, has everyone seen the posts about the cat and the Artemis II? Someone posted a picture of her cat watching it on the way to the moon, saying “teaching my cat about Artemis II, space, and our beloved moon.” NASA replied, " Tell your cat the Artemis II crew said pspsps."
Lol, my first thought was, “AI-made video of a stowaway cat on Artemis II?! Knowing how cats like to sneak into suitcases etc. that would be believable!”
I also remembered the cat in that movie, Fly me to the moon - hilarious!
We’ve scheduled euthanasia for our younger cat, the one diagnosed with sarcoma.
The tumor has grown enormously over the past 6 weeks. It’s the size of softball and has ulcerated. (Ulceration is a recent development. That only happened 2 days ago.)
We’re having in-home euthanasia on Monday, which was the quickest it can be arranged.
My high prey drive 1 year old bengal is now sporting a harness, and after he gets used to it he will be leashed. We are trying to find a way to keep him from going after our 6 YO cat. He is NOT a happy camper, but it’s been a couple of hours and he seems to be doing much better already. Hopefully this will work. Our other cat is tired of living in our room 20-24 hours a day.
