Making decision about treating cat's jaw cancer

CountingDown
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 19:57:04 +0000

Our vet told us not to even bother getting the tumor biopsied; because of its location and the fact it was wrapped around various structures in her neck, active treatment was not going to do much. We did do antibiotics (she had infected teeth; a cleaning and extraction were how we discovered the tumor), which helped reduce some of the swelling for a time, and some liquid non-steroidal medication which had shown to be somewhat helpful in bladder tumors.

We got three months of her being happy, eating chicken cutlets daily and having good energy til about the last ten days. We probably could have held on a little longer, but she was struggling to breathe at night when the tumor pressed on her windpipe. (When she was on her feet, she was fine, until the last 2-3 days when she quit doing stairs. She was eating well some days, and not on others.) The vet told us we did the right thing at the right time. Her feeling is that many people wait too long and the animal starts suffering.

It’s such a personal decision. I couldn’t put her through chemo because her QOL would have been lousy and she’d have no idea why. It’s a different decision when I make that choice for myself or talk to a loved one about courses to pursue.