lymphoma

I just had my 8 year old cat put to rest after him having issues since june 2010. He had lost a ton of weight and found out he had diabetes, after a few months and lowering doses he was finally in remission. Just before the end of the year he was acting very limp and tests showed that his liver enzyme was very high. after a few days he was back to normal and we were told to check his blood later on to make sure he was doing ok. a week ago he seemed to be not eating well so i decided to take him in. to my surprise his liver enzymes were still normal and his diabetes still under control. so with the thought of irritable bowel and some new food we went home. then he stopped eating...maybe a few nibbles every once in awhile,i hadn't been in the litter box. no popping for awhile now. so back to the vet to now discover numberous spots of lymphoma.....i was told it was all through him. we were given the prognosis that if he was to do treatment that he may live 4 months at the most. we put him down right away knowing that he wasn't himself and could tell he was just wanting to be alone. my question is, is there anything that could have been done besides chemo/radiation to get him to the point where he could go to the bathroom and feel a bit more comfortable for a little while longer, as opposed to having to put him down right away? or is it better to have put him down now before anything got anyworse.

I myself had to go through the same thing you did right after Christmas with my 12 year old Yowdy..I also asked myself and the vets what could of been done. I really believe doing anything at that stage would of been more for my benifit then for his.
I wanted him to be with me..But in the end, treatment would of gave him 4 to 6 months more.But at what cost to him and pain? And he would not of been his self and his health would be going downhill. Know you did what was best for him, and you did for love. .

I am so sorry for your loss. It's clear, reading your first message here on TCS, just how much you loved your cat.

It's so hard, and we torment ourselves with "What if?" or "If only." All I can say is that whenever I've heard someone expressing regrets about the timing of the last kindness we can offer our beloved pets - the regrets are about waiting too long, never about its being premature.

Cats live in the now. He was tired. It sounds like it was time, and there wasn't anything that might have been done to give you both another few days with any comfort for him. Your furbaby was ready to go over the Rainbow Bridge. And you loved him enough to let him go.

thank you both for your reply. this is the first ever pet that i have lost. i just feel like he would have been angry with me if i took him away too early, or i always wonder why i couldn't have caught it earlier. although i know lymphoma is hard to detect without and internal exam. i guess everything seemed to have happened so fast and i just feel as though i didn't take the time to think things through better. i did bring him home from the vets though for the night and kept him until the afternoon, before i put him to rest. i layed with im the whole day talking to him, crying, and letting him know how much he was loved and would be missed. right before we took him we gave him some turkey and tuna which he gobbled up. which was wonderful to see as he hadn't been eating. the hardest thing was taking him when he was reluctant to get in the kennel. i truely though before that moment that he was ready to go and he had understood me. but then whinned and fought to get in the kennel. it really broke my heart and again made me wonder if i was making the right decision.

I think it's normal to second guess your decision - whether you would've waited or not you would have second guessed it. As hard as it is, you gave him the utmost gift - peace.

Play happily over the Rainbow Bridge

I am so sorry to read about yout beloved cat. Why are we so hard on ourselves and second guess ourselves? Because we loved that cat so much and it is never ever easy no matter how deathly ill they are to make that final decision. It is natural to question something as serious as our last gift to our pets. Your kitty was very, very sick and you made the right decision. It helps to talk about it and get support. I hope you love again on another cat because you sound like you are a true cat lover

I actually still have 3 cats. It was just a shock when you lose the youngest one and when it all happens so fast. I am so happy to have found this site and been able to have such great ppl responding to me. It great to find a place where people have such a love and understanding of their animals.

I am truly sorry for your loss. I believe you made the right decision for your cat. I have had to do that twice. I have always felt that my cats lived dignified lives and I wanted them to die that way. I didn't want to see them reduced to pain and suffering just to keep them here a little longer for me.
It is a very tough decision and a hard one to make. You put your cat ahead of your own feelings and that shows the love you had for your pet. Hugs to you. I pray your memories will bring you much comfort. I am sorry.

Everyones words have also brought me comfort, knowing now that I did do what was best for him. It has only been a few days but I am at peace and was when I saw him go, as he layed on his belly and slowly dropped his head to his paws as I stroked his beautiful fur. It was horrible to let him go, but I tell him I love him and miss him all the time, and I know he is disease free now.

I'm so sorry that your cat got so sick and died.

Three weeks ago I had to have my cat, Feldman, put to sleep. We had struggled for years with irritable bowel syndrome and, finally, three weeks ago, he was pooping and peeing all over the place. I took him to the vet and his blood tests showed kidney failure. We were told we could take him off all meds but he would only get worse. I was so tired of cleaning up his messes too, even though I loved him dearly. So we had him put down. It was very hard.

Now, one of my other cats, Callie, has intestinal lymphoma (she's 12). I have her on leukeran once a week and prednisone every other day. She has chronic diarrhea. Some days her stool will be normal and some days it's diarrhea and she poops on the floor which is very nasty.

I really don't know what to do. I just lost a cat three weeks ago and now my gut feeling is that she has no quality of life right now and it's the right thing to do but I just can't bring myself to do it. She doesn't eat treats anymore, she hides down the basement all day and rarely sits on my lap anymore.

I guess I just need some encouragement and advice. She's only been on the leukeran for a week. Should I continue with it and see how it goes or????

It's a hard decision. I just went through a scare with one of my cats possibly having lymphoma over the holidays. The ultrasound didn't show that anything and the bloodwork only showed hepatitis but it took a longer than usual for him to respond to the prednisone. When I was researching lymphoma on the internet I had decided not to go the chemo route but that is just my own opinion. Since he has only been on the meds for a week maybe give him another week to see if there is any improvement. It's such a hard decision.

I guess I just need some encouragement and advice. She's only been on the leukeran for a week. Should I continue with it and see how it goes or????

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I believe you should. Some cats do very well on it for quite a long time.
Some cats also do well on prednisone. I remember one kitty who survived on treatment with prednisone for four years. (When treating with prednisone the dose being used can be adjusted and a different dose can make a big difference.)

Also, you might want to read the case studies here
http://felinelymphomacaregivers.org/cases.html
to see what others are doing for treating this disease. And perhaps you might also want to talk to an oncologist about Callie.

Lymphoma is a heartbreaking disease. My heart goes out to you. I pray you'll find the treatment protocol that will work for your Callie.

Thank you Denice - I decided to give a couple of weeks and she seems to be doing better. She actually played with a paper ball the other day and chased one of my other cats like she used to do. I think there will be good days and bad days. When the bad days outnumber the good days, then I think I will know what I have to do!