surgery or not?

I need some help or just support. My 20 year old cat has just been diagnosed with "maybe cancer" or maybe not. This after blood work done 3 days ago. He is healthy, all organs functioning as they should, but has a large growth on his neck/thyroid? It is not hyperthyroid, although I have been feeding him Hills y/d for the past few months because the vet thought that's what it was.

Now I'm advised to commit him to surgery, in which it may be excised fully, or not.  I'm told I should decide quickly because the mass is large and will get larger.."maybe". I do know that if it's cancer and not fully excised, it will likely spread. So, I need another option besides leaving him to die or choke. So far he is not troubled by the growth. 

I'm a bit of a health nut and prefer holistic treatment, so I'm very wary of rushed surgery. I'd prefer treating him with Homeopathy and Chinese herbs.

I have been watching the progress of an herb called Artemisinin for cancer treatment - Dr Lui at University of WA continues with this research for at least the past 10 years. Just read about it again on, A Path with Paws, a great web site and Holistic vet who has been prescribing it for her cancer patients for several years, she shares a protocal, on her web site. The results with this herb are remarkable- in that it reduces tumor size dramatically, without  side effects. In many cases it eliminates the growth entirely, but it is known to extend the pet's life, at the very least. 

I have contacted a holistic vet here in my state, and she has agreed to work with me, with Artemisinin. I have an appointment in 3 weeks. She is one of two, I will call the second one Monday...for an earlier date.

My dilemma, do I have 3 weeks to wait? Should I begin the treatment protocal shared by the Seattle vet on her web site? Should I assume the mass is cancer, on which I have no absolute diagnosis. My thoughts on this are, while I wait I should begin using the herb, because it has no negative side effects and if it works it could shrink the mass, maybe significantly,  over the next 3 weeks. At the moment, I am using medicinal mushrooms and an anti-inflammatory.

So, what to do? I need an unbiased thinking source and hoped one of the many cat lovers on this site would weigh in. 

Thanking you in advance. 

I would think that they would be able to do what they did with my Tippy.  They sedated him and then withdrew fluid from the growth and then did lab work.  It was diagnosed as cancer and we will be going with comfort care but at least they were able to tell me if was a benign cyst or if it was cancer.  Doing it this way was less invasive and less harmful to my grumpy guy.

meow2u2 said:

I need some help or just support. My 20 year old cat has just been diagnosed with "maybe cancer" or maybe not. This after blood work done 3 days ago. He is healthy, all organs functioning as they should, but has a large growth on his neck/thyroid? It is not hyperthyroid, although I have been feeding him Hills y/d for the past few months because the vet thought that's what it was.
Now I'm advised to commit him to surgery, in which it may be excised fully, or not.  I'm told I should decide quickly because the mass is large and will get larger.."maybe". I do know that if it's cancer and not fully excised, it will likely spread. So, I need another option besides leaving him to die or choke. So far he is not troubled by the growth. 
I'm a bit of a health nut and prefer holistic treatment, so I'm very wary of rushed surgery. I'd prefer treating him with Homeopathy and Chinese herbs.
I have been watching the progress of an herb called Artemisinin for cancer treatment - Dr Lui at University of WA continues with this research for at least the past 10 years. Just read about it again on, A Path with Paws, a great web site and Holistic vet who has been prescribing it for her cancer patients for several years, she shares a protocal, on her web site. The results with this herb are remarkable- in that it reduces tumor size dramatically, without  side effects. In many cases it eliminates the growth entirely, but it is known to extend the pet's life, at the very least. 
I have contacted a holistic vet here in my state, and she has agreed to work with me, with Artemisinin. I have an appointment in 3 weeks. She is one of two, I will call the second one Monday...for an earlier date.
My dilemma, do I have 3 weeks to wait? Should I begin the treatment protocal shared by the Seattle vet on her web site? Should I assume the mass is cancer, on which I have no absolute diagnosis. My thoughts on this are, while I wait I should begin using the herb, because it has no negative side effects and if it works it could shrink the mass, maybe significantly,  over the next 3 weeks. At the moment, I am using medicinal mushrooms and an anti-inflammatory.
So, what to do? I need an unbiased thinking source and hoped one of the many cat lovers on this site would weigh in. 
Thanking you in advance. 

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If you want to try and keep him alive, do the surgery before it gets bigger!

It only took one day to find out if the lump was benign or cancerous.  Knowing what you're dealing with makes a lot of difference in treatment.

Thank you so much.

My Greb is also a grumpy guy when it come to exams. He had a needle aspiration six months ago and it didn't turn up any cancer cells. This Vet seems to think it may be cancer despite the evidence lacking at that point. He suggests a biopsy, more extensive, but encourages surgery at the same time, to attempt a removal of the mass. I am really conflicted about subjecting Grebel to that traumatic experience. 

I have a lot of confidence in holistic medicine...my greatest concern is, do I have the time to wait. My guy is 20 yo but there is a cat who has made it for 40 years, and I'm shooting for that goal...but not without a lot of help.

I absolutely agree and am really struggling with that .

My grumpy guy is also twenty and so far his quality is good.  His cancer is behind his eye  and I will not be subjecting him to any more surgery.  I will enjoy the time he has left and when the time comes I will be making the difficult decision that comes to us all with our fur babies.

I tend to want to do that.. just  get it removed., but there's general agreement in conventional meds that is you cut into a cancerous tumor and don't "get it all" it will almost always spread. To worsen matters, I really don't know this vet and he has been pretty vague about the condition and the implications of surgery..what it would entail. I have asked those questions and gotten no real answers. I'm not asking for a commitment, just an honest conversation and that isn't happening. I think I have time to see a holistic vet, a second opinion. 

Thanks for you input..I appreciate it, it is food for thought! 

You certainly have time since the growth is not causing him any obvious difficulty at this time.  Even three weeks shouldn't be too long to wait to try the artominsinin.  My personal belief is always that quality of life trumps quantity of life, and at this time, NOT having surgery for a lump that is not currently bothering him would be my choice for quality of life.  I would not even go for an additional biopsy at this point -- if I were your cat, I would say "Hey Mom don't let this vet poke me or cut me, let's enjoy life now and see what the holistic vet might have to offer when we get to see her, okay?"  You asked for opinions, and this is my opinion.  Let us know how this thing goes.