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- Jan 3, 2014
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I have a 1.5 year old kitty that developed diarrhea over the summer. I took her to her vet when it first started but blood work and x-ray revealed nothing unusual. For awhile she had diarrhea on and off so I changed her food a few times in hopes it was just her food not agreeing with her. It didn't work. She slowly stopped eating her dry food and began only eating wet food. After some time, she started eating less and less of her wet food. She's now done to just licking off the gravy. She's also been urinating and defecating outside her litter box on occasion. She's still affectionate and doesn't seem entirely unhappy but she doesn't play anymore and has been spending more and more time alone.
Fast forward to this week at her vet appointment. I took her in because her diarrhea went from occasional to having only diarrhea (and it's completely liquid). She went from 10 lbs. in May to now 6 lbs. I can easily feel her spine and hip bones. Her vet palpated her abdomen and said her intestines were completely hard so he did an x-ray which came back showing her intestines in a haze. He said that more than likely this is GI lymphoma even though she's very young. He recommended euthanasia or exploratory surgery. We cannot afford the surgery unfortunately. In a panic, I took her to another vet that works with an internal medicine specialist for a second opinion. They did a CBC, x-ray, and abdominal ultrasound. Her albumin was so low the doctor was surprised she isn't full of fluid and her ultrasound revealed a severely thickened lower small intestine and colon along with two large masses, one of which they believe to be a very enlarged lymph node (2.5 cm). The IM vet diagnosed her with lymphoma but said there's a possibility of a severe infiltrative infection like FIP. They gave her a prognosis of poor to grave. Once again I was told exploratory surgery could be done for biopsy or an endoscopy could be done but because of the location of her supposed cancer, surgery is the better option. The doctor also told me that euthanizing her would also be an option for her case.
Today she is scheduled for euthanasia but after not sleeping and barely eating, I have realized I cannot go through with it. I lost a kitty two years ago to a short battle with FIP and I cannot lose another kitty so soon. At her appointment today I'm going to bring up the possibility of doing a colonoscopy with biopsy so we can know for sure it's cancer and not something more easily treatable like IBD. Depending on the cost of the biopsy, I'd like to have it done. We cannot afford cancer treatment nor can we really afford something like major surgery (we've already been paying for her vet bills with a credit card). We're expecting our third child very soon and my husband will be changing careers next year (lower pay) so digging ourselves further into debt is not an option. Our kitty means so much to us, but I have to be realistic about what we can and cannot afford.
What would you do in this situation (taking her age, prognosis, and our financial situation into consideration)? Would you choose to euthanize or go further into debt having more testing done? Please keep in mind that euthanasia is NOT the easy solution for us and that this is a horrible decision we have been faced with. We love her very, very much.
Fast forward to this week at her vet appointment. I took her in because her diarrhea went from occasional to having only diarrhea (and it's completely liquid). She went from 10 lbs. in May to now 6 lbs. I can easily feel her spine and hip bones. Her vet palpated her abdomen and said her intestines were completely hard so he did an x-ray which came back showing her intestines in a haze. He said that more than likely this is GI lymphoma even though she's very young. He recommended euthanasia or exploratory surgery. We cannot afford the surgery unfortunately. In a panic, I took her to another vet that works with an internal medicine specialist for a second opinion. They did a CBC, x-ray, and abdominal ultrasound. Her albumin was so low the doctor was surprised she isn't full of fluid and her ultrasound revealed a severely thickened lower small intestine and colon along with two large masses, one of which they believe to be a very enlarged lymph node (2.5 cm). The IM vet diagnosed her with lymphoma but said there's a possibility of a severe infiltrative infection like FIP. They gave her a prognosis of poor to grave. Once again I was told exploratory surgery could be done for biopsy or an endoscopy could be done but because of the location of her supposed cancer, surgery is the better option. The doctor also told me that euthanizing her would also be an option for her case.
Today she is scheduled for euthanasia but after not sleeping and barely eating, I have realized I cannot go through with it. I lost a kitty two years ago to a short battle with FIP and I cannot lose another kitty so soon. At her appointment today I'm going to bring up the possibility of doing a colonoscopy with biopsy so we can know for sure it's cancer and not something more easily treatable like IBD. Depending on the cost of the biopsy, I'd like to have it done. We cannot afford cancer treatment nor can we really afford something like major surgery (we've already been paying for her vet bills with a credit card). We're expecting our third child very soon and my husband will be changing careers next year (lower pay) so digging ourselves further into debt is not an option. Our kitty means so much to us, but I have to be realistic about what we can and cannot afford.
What would you do in this situation (taking her age, prognosis, and our financial situation into consideration)? Would you choose to euthanize or go further into debt having more testing done? Please keep in mind that euthanasia is NOT the easy solution for us and that this is a horrible decision we have been faced with. We love her very, very much.