Cancer or FIP....Really need some advice

jac05f

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
1
Purraise
1
Hi,

New here. At a total loss. 2 days ago my 6 year old tuxedo cat started acting weird. Sleepy, lethargic, hiding, not meowing (he's pretty vocal at dinner time) not particularly alert....

Yesterday I took him to the vet to see what was up. First x-ray showed a mass in his tummy. Second x-ray showed fluid around his lungs and a mass on his heart. 

The vet feels it's either FIP or cancer. As he is 6 years old, she is leaning away from fip. They drained some of the fluid from his chest and sent him home. I am waiting on results from blood work but the Blizzard up here means the office is closed today. I also scheduled an ultrasound for Thursday.

Today he has only got up to move once. He spent all night and morning in the closet. He got up an hour ago and just looked at his food bowl, but did drink some water and used his box. He is now in another closet napping. He is usually a very cuddly and loving cat but seems to not really want me around him.

Any advice? What are things I should be looking into? What questions might I be forgetting to ask the vet? What did you wish you knew before you dealt with something similar. Anything really would be helpful. 
 

neely

May the purr be with you
Veteran
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
19,637
Purraise
47,805
First, I'd like to welcome you to TCS! 
  I'm not the best diagnostician but I would expect until the blood work comes back you won't know exactly what to ask or research.  Are you happy with your vet and trust his or her expertise?  I think that is a key factor.  Listen carefully to what your vet has to say and go from there.  In the meantime, you can google your cat's symptoms but that may open pandora's box.  I would tend to agree about it not being FIP partly because it is more prevalent in younger cats and partly because of the mass.  i had a cat who passed away from FIP at 3 yrs. old with entirely different symptoms than what you described but once again I am not an expert diagnostician.  

I wish you the best of luck.  Perhaps other members can offer their advice especially about what questions to ask your vet.  Please keep us posted when you get the lab results.  Good luck with the blizzard conditions also. 
 

red top rescue

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
4,466
Purraise
1,486
Location
Acworth GA, USA
It sounds like you may want to get him on pain meds.  My nearly 18 y/o female got another two good weeks of life because I got buprenorphine from the vet and gave it to her every 12 hours.  (She did have cancer.)  She was comfortable for those last two weeks but eventually got too weak and I could tell she was tired and done, so it was time to let her go to sleep for the last time, in my arms.  Our last two weeks together were wonderful, though, pain free and full of love.
 
Top