I have had my dear cat Poppy since she was 9 weeks old. She is now nearly eleven years.

A few days ago I noticed she was drinking excessively and had a slightly swollen stomach. I booked her into the vet and she had an ultrascan which confirmed that she has acute liver disease all over her liver. It is also nearly twice the size it should be. I am devastated.

I have brought her home and she continues to lead a normal life. She is still purring, hunting and eating, albeit small amounts at a time.

I am awaiting further blood results which should be here by Monday. If she has cancer then I think the kindest thing would be to put her to sleep.

If she doesn't have cancer what are the chances of her continuing and for how long? I am willing to pay and do whatever it takes as long as she doesn't suffer.

Any advice and experiences would help.

Thanks

My simon was diagonsed with CLF in july 2010 and we lost him 2 wks later. For him it was the only choice for him to be pts. We didnt take the decison lightly and realy though long and hard. He was only 8 months old when he first was diagnosed with it and tried his hardest too beat it but he had enough and i couldnt put him through anymore. He was just over 3 when we lost him. If i could have done more i would have. I know by the sound of your post i know you will never give up on your cat. Do what you think is right for your cat.
Please let us know what the blood tests result is on monday. I hate too see anybodys cat or any animal ill.

I think you should wait for the full facts to come to light and then make your decision based on your vet's advice and prognosis.

I would have spent anything to keep Tabitha alive (mesenteric lymphoma/cancer) and I kept her going until her quality of life deteriorated. I just procured a few extra days really. However, that time together was precious and I made the decision to end her life when the time was right for both of us. My personal experience with the vets was rather stressful and inconsistent. My cat was being treated in a very large practice and I received conflicting and contradictory advice from the vets depending on which one was on duty. In the morning I would be phoned with assurances that my cat was 'stable' and responding to IV fluids. A few hours later a different vet would phone with a different opinion, advising euthanasia. In the end Tabitha came home for a final 4 days, still going outside to be in the sunshine but when she stopped eating and grooming that was my signal that she wasn't going to get any better.

I don't know if you have pet insurance? I'm with Petplan and the final vets bill for just over 2 weeks of treatments was nearly £3500. I've had to pay £900 of that including cremation costs. That's a lot of money so your financial situation should be considered, particularly if the prognosis is 'guarded' as Tabitha's was.

I don't regret the decisions I made because, although I have a huge amount of guilt for not recognising that my cat was ill, people who know me say I would be now berating myself if I hadn't given Tabitha every opportunity for a longer survival.

Good luck for Monday. Hopefully your vet(s) will give you consistent advice, in your cat's best interests.

Thanks Maisey Moo and MarellaK for your kind replies. I was so sorry and moved to hear about your cats. I certainly know now what you were both going through.

Thankfully my vet practice is very small and I always get to see the same woman who is very helpful and kind. I am insured too up to £3000 but will pretty much pay whatever it takes to keep Poppy comfortable.

I will certainly let you both know what the results are on Monday.

Thank again

Give poppy a hug from me please x

Sorry to hear about your cat's illness OP, but it sounds as if she is doing fine at the moment. When you know the results of the tests you can ask your vet the questions you have asked on here, she will be much better placed to answer them as she will have seen many cases before.

Cats are very good at masking symptoms and as long as they feel reasonably okay they carry on as normal, and tend to go very suddenly downhill. That is why it can be such a shock to realise they are terminally ill. I've lost a cat to CRF and to mesenteric lymphoma, and to an outsider they would have seemed completely fine until a day or two before their deaths.

I hope the news is as good as it can be.

Any news today Chris?

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies and concerns. Well unfortunately the news wasn't good. Although the bloods cannot tell for sure that she has cancer the results do indicate that she has.

On my vets advice we have embarked on a new diet to allow her liver to rest. Unfortunately though she seems to get bigger everyday. I am taking her to the vet later today to see what the vet thinks, whether there is any fluid that can be drained, and how long the vet thinks she may have left.

She is still enjoying life though and still managed to catch a mouse last night.

The thing that worries me the most though is that I go on holiday in just under four weeks and she goes into the Cattery for two weeks. I know I would never forgive myself if she died there.

Sorry to hear it was not good news, but it sounds as if she is still very comfortable and active at the moment.

I had the same problem when my cat had lymphoma, we were going away a couple of weeks after his diagnosis. However he went downhill pretty fast, and I had to have him PTS within a week of diagnosis

I suspect that over the next few weeks it will become obvious that she is continuing to thrive... or sadly, not.... and you can make your decision based on that.

I hope she has some good quality time left with you.

I'm sorry to hear your news but at least your cat is enjoying quality life at the moment.

I was due to go away for a week in May but ended up taking annual leave from work in March/April when Tabitha was ill so I cancelled the May holiday. My mum came over from Ireland to look after my cat but I ended up only working about 3 days in 2 weeks. I actually regret working those days, I wish I'd spent them with Tabitha but, initially, for 4-5 days, she was doing reasonably well once she recovered from her operation and the vets were talking about chemo.... so I lived in hope.

I wouldn't enjoy my holiday if I knew my cat might die and I would want to spend as much time as possible with her. My cat's last few days were spent in her favourite spots in the garden and, at night, sleeping next to me, purring when I stroked her.

I hope you have much longer with your cat and you can go away as planned. The cattery may not be happy to take an ill cat Perhaps it might be feasible to have a cat sitter who can stay with your cat in the comfort and security of her own surroundings. My mother would never normally have come across from Ireland to cat sit but this was an exceptional situation because she knew how much the cat meant to me.

I just want too send you and poppy a big hug from me. I am realy sorry that it wasnt good news. Please let us know how poppy gets on at the vets.

Hello,

You people on this forum are so very kind.

We have just got back from the vet and it is the tumour that is growing and not fluid. It has grown a great deal in just a week.

We have decided to have her put to sleep the week before our holiday unless she goes down hill drastically in the mean time. I know this might not sound fair to some people but she only has weeks left at the most so I want to be with her all that time. I would also like to put her to sleep while she is comfortable and not when she deteriorates.

Thanks again for your kind words and I will keep you updated.

Sounds fair to me. We had a cat with cancer in her liver. She was diagnosed and died within 10 days. The vets tried removing the affected lobe- she died about 16 hours after the op. Looking back now I wish she'd come home after being diagnosed but the vets thought that as she was a young cat there was a chance.

I'm sure you'll know when the time is right given what she has it'll be better to have her PTS before she gets worse and is in discomfort

I'd do the same thing if it was my pet.

You need to do what feels right for you and your cat.

I, personally, had to wait for a deterioration before I could contemplate euthanasia because for me, as an ICU nurse who fights to keep patients alive, euthanasia seems quite clinical, unnatural. We don't kill off our patients but, when hope is gone, we put in comfort measures, withdraw treatment and let nature take its course. I know we can't do this with animals, they don't have the same understanding about what is happening and are looking to us for help. It's important not to let them suffer.

Up until a few days before my cat's death, I was still living in hope for a longer survival. Her tumour had shrunk with the steroids, her chest x ray was clear, with chemo she could have lived a further 5 - 12 months. Unfortunately she developed a mild form of cat flu (she was immuno suppressed) but she then stopped eating and she just wasn't going to recover like she normally would.

I hope you cherish every day you spend with Poppy. My cat knew I loved her and, even at the end, in the car journey, was snuggled into me for comfort with such trust in her beautiful face.

I understand completely, I feel that same with my cats, both for their own sake - I don't want them to suffer - and for mine, because I want to remember them as relatively happy healthy animals.

My vet offered to look after my cat at the surgery during our holiday if I felt he was not well enough to go to his usual cattery, but my view was that if he was not well enough to stay at the cattery he was not well enough to continue, full stop. And as you say it would be awful for both yourself and your cat if she died while you were away.

I would rather have a cat PTS a week too early, than a week too late.

Best wishes to you and Poppy.

Or perhaps have the cat put to sleep at the 'right' time, as soon as their quality of life starts to deteriorate? To electively choose to put a cat to sleep because of the 'convenience' factor, even though the cat may still enjoy its life, seems a bit calculated to me. I couldn't do it but I value life and don't want to play god.

Some terminally ill animals (and people) can still enjoy months of life with the right care and support. I know it's a lot of work, financially crippling with time consuming visits to the vet etc but that is an option that many people choose because it's personally feels right to them. It's a shame we can't ask our animals what they would want but a responsible pet owner will know their pet and will hopefully make their decision based on the animal's best interests and not for selfish reasons. I care for critically ill people so I probably have a different perspective to illness than many people here. I did not give up on my cat with her 'guarded' prognosis just like we don't give up on people.

Everyone must do what feels right for them because its a decision you have to live with afterwards. The immediate sense of relief is soon followed by intense internal analysis of everything that has gone on, whether you should have left it longer, why you didn't recognise symptoms earlier, I even wonder if I'm responsible for the cancer, did Tabitha come into contact with a carcinogenic chemical - eg weedkiller?

I know that everyone who posts here loves their pets. We don't all have to agree and we should respect that different people will have their own opinions on what is 'right'.

Marella I am not sure some of your comments will be helpful to the OP in her current situation.

I have not disagreed with you previously, so am not sure why you quoted me and included the comment about respecting others' views. I was supportive of you and deliberately refrained from criticising your decision when you were in the same situation, so perhaps you could do the same.

I have had several cats PTS and my aim is to do the right thing for my cat AT THE RIGHT TIME and to ensure he does not suffer. But we can never be absolutely sure of the right time, and I would prefer to be a few days too early than too late - purely to save the animal's suffering, nothing whatever to do with my 'convenience' or with vet appointments or expense, and I have no idea why those comments were seemingly directed at me. I would have been delighted if my terminally ill cats could have had a few more months of good quality life, but as cats hide illness very well they are often extremely ill at diagnosis, so a few more months can be a completely unrealistic ambition. As you found yourself.

What I will never now do is to put a terminally ill cat through invasive, stressful procedures for little gain (done that; regretted it); a marginally shorter life with a more peaceful end is preferable (IMO).

OP I hope these posts have not added to your upset, and Poppy is continuing to feel well. If you are able, we would like to know how she gets on.

So very sorry to hear about Poppy, and I fully understand and support your way of thinking.

A friend of mine had this poem sent to her, when she had to make 'the decision' and although I have posted this before on other threads in the past, I hope it may be of some small comfort to you.


If it should be that I grow frail and weak
and pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must be done,
For this last battle can't be won.

You will be sad, I understand.
Don't let this grief then stay your hand.
For this day more than all the rest,
Your love and friendship stand the test.

We've had so many happy years
What is to come can hold no fears.
You'd not want me to suffer, so
When the time comes let me go.

Take me to where my needs they'll tend
Only, stay with me till the end.
And hold me firm, and speak to me,
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you too will see
It is a kindness you do to me.
Though my tail its last has waved
From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Don't grieve that it should be you
Who has to decide this thing to do.
We've been so close we all these years
Don't let your heart hold any tears.