I have just got home from the vet. My lovely cat & friend Marmite, has a suspected Gastric tumour.
She has had sickness for about 2 months which was successfully controlled with some steroid injections indicating a possible pancreatic problem. However her 2nd monthly injection seemed to have little effect & she started being sick again. I tried to spread out her feeding times with small amounts over a day & even got up at 4am to feed her. But she started being sick at night, after drinking water. The night sick was brown water. Last night she was not sick, I think because I did not feed her at all after 9pm because she was fasting for 12 hours for the x-ray. I had mopped up some of the watery sick the night before & it was tested today & found to contain blood. Marmite has been a good girl at the vets all day today & has had a series of x-rays which indicate an irregular shaped lump on one side of her stomach.
The vet has given us 3 options, which we have over the weekend to decide.
Note. We live on a small island & do not have easy access to the very best equipment. Specialist visits usually involve a 4-hour ferry trip to the UK. We do not have insurance, we also do not have much money, but will find the money to do whatever is best for Marmite.
We do not have the facility on the island to do an endoscopy & biopsy. We do have an endoscope, but a biopsy would need to be taken by an invasive operation.
Option 1
Refer Marmite to an oncology specialist in the UK. They would have the best equipment & best surgeons available. They could do an endoscopy, take a biopsy & refer back to us to decide on the next step. If necessary, they could operate on the tumour. The costs would be substantial.
Optionally, we could bring her back to the Island for any operation, therefore giving the vet the additional information of what type of tumour is present.
Option 2
The vet here could operate & expose the stomach where she could check for a tumour from the outside of the stomach. She could also check whether the cancer has spread to any other organs. On that information, if the cancer has gone too far, or the stomach tumour is too large, she could either stop any further work & sew back up again, or enter the stomach to take a large biopsy & try to remove the tumour.
Option 3
If Marmite does have a Gastric tumour, the chance of survival is low. We could manage the pain & let her go when it is best for her.
Please help.
She has had sickness for about 2 months which was successfully controlled with some steroid injections indicating a possible pancreatic problem. However her 2nd monthly injection seemed to have little effect & she started being sick again. I tried to spread out her feeding times with small amounts over a day & even got up at 4am to feed her. But she started being sick at night, after drinking water. The night sick was brown water. Last night she was not sick, I think because I did not feed her at all after 9pm because she was fasting for 12 hours for the x-ray. I had mopped up some of the watery sick the night before & it was tested today & found to contain blood. Marmite has been a good girl at the vets all day today & has had a series of x-rays which indicate an irregular shaped lump on one side of her stomach.
The vet has given us 3 options, which we have over the weekend to decide.
Note. We live on a small island & do not have easy access to the very best equipment. Specialist visits usually involve a 4-hour ferry trip to the UK. We do not have insurance, we also do not have much money, but will find the money to do whatever is best for Marmite.
We do not have the facility on the island to do an endoscopy & biopsy. We do have an endoscope, but a biopsy would need to be taken by an invasive operation.
Option 1
Refer Marmite to an oncology specialist in the UK. They would have the best equipment & best surgeons available. They could do an endoscopy, take a biopsy & refer back to us to decide on the next step. If necessary, they could operate on the tumour. The costs would be substantial.
Optionally, we could bring her back to the Island for any operation, therefore giving the vet the additional information of what type of tumour is present.
Option 2
The vet here could operate & expose the stomach where she could check for a tumour from the outside of the stomach. She could also check whether the cancer has spread to any other organs. On that information, if the cancer has gone too far, or the stomach tumour is too large, she could either stop any further work & sew back up again, or enter the stomach to take a large biopsy & try to remove the tumour.
Option 3
If Marmite does have a Gastric tumour, the chance of survival is low. We could manage the pain & let her go when it is best for her.
Please help.