BrendaH
Jedi
Hello. A month ago I found a lump in my cat's neck and I immediately called his vet. He gave him antibiotics for 10 days to see if the size of the lump changed but nothing happened. After an ultrasound scan, I had the news that it was a tumor, and the size of it is 4,4 x 3,8 x 3,4 cm. It's a big tumor in a small place full of very delicate parts and it's affecting him. Surgery is dangerous and before that, the surgeon wants to make sure that the size of the tumor is reduced, the vet gave him corticoids to see if that helped but nothing happened, and here is where I need advice because the surgeon suggested chemotherapy. It really is not what I want to do, I'm not even sure if my cat would be able to survive that, he mentioned one session but I know it is going to be more than one, and that would be too much for my cat. For now, he is having a normal life though the tumor started to affect his right eye because of the pressure on the neck and part of the face. After chemo, if it works, surgery is the next step, which still will be dangerous, if the tumor is very attached to his neck and different parts of it, then there's nothing the surgeon can do, he will cancel the surgery. I don't want to put my cat through all that suffering but I also think 'What if it works?' He is a young cat, he's about to turn 6 and that also hurts me, what if he can have a second chance? But deep down I know that won't be the case and at the same time, I know nothing because there's nothing certain. But I know that when humans have chemo, they have more than one session and most of the time it doesn't work, they end up very debilitated, and shortly after what follows is death. It's stupid of me to think that my cat has better odds, but doing nothing makes me feel like I'm abandoning him, but is there something that I can do differently than taking this decision that can lead him to a sooner death? And at the same time, what if I'm wrong and this treatment helps him? I can't think with clarity as you can notice, I feel like either decision is wrong.