Got Bad News About Albus- Mass In Lung :-(

[lsanders]

In early December, our vet came to the house to see Albus (he's the tuxie in my profile picture). His herpesvirus has been especially flared up lately. He gave him a shot of an antibiotics because he thought there could be a secondary infection. While he was here, he noticed that the fur at the top of the bridge of Albus's nose wasn't lying flat- it was spiked up. I had noticed it too, but thought it was because of the weight he'd lost lately.

The vet said to keep an eye on it because it could be a pituitary issue- acromegaly- or a growth. About three weeks ago, suddenly I could see a bulge on the side of his nose, pushing out towards his left eye. Our vet came back to the house a couple days later and said we needed to get a CT done. He didn't think it was acromegaly because there's other symptoms that Albus doesn't have.

We made the appointment for yesterday at a speciality clinic and we've been wrecks for the last couple weeks. He's about 14 years old, so at the age where "What do you do if..." becomes a real question.

So we went yesterday. They did a fine needle aspiration of the bulge on his nose and it came out as "inflammatory" fluid which doesn't really narrow it down, other than it wasn't pus, so more than an abscess. To do the CT scan required a bunch of pre-op tests- x-rays of his body, blood work. For financial reasons, we decided to do the pre-op stuff before committing to the CT scan. That was all going to take a couple hours to do and we'd been there since 7:00am, so we left Albus and went to get food. A couple hours later, the vet called and said they stopped after x-ray because they found a mass in one of his lungs. The vet said it was a solid mass, about the size of two ribs.

I am 99% sure that the vet said when we got back to the hospital, he'd talk to us more, but when we got there, a tech brought Albus out and said he didn't have any more information, and that Albus was a really sweet cat. Because it was about 10 hours since Albus last ate and he just wanted to get the hell out of there, I didn't press the issue.

So now Albus is home. He's sleeping a lot, but doesn't seem to be in any discomfort. I don't know how long they are predicting he'll live. I will call the hospital on Monday. I just want to know if we have days, weeks, or months. And if there's anything we should or shouldn't do to keep him comfortable. And if there's anything that could happen that will definitely be a sign that it's "time".

We've had ten amazing years with him...and I can't imagine a minute without him :'(

 

[Margret]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Okay, things you need to know:

• Vets don't normally say things like "This is terminal; you need to consider euthanasia." They assume you don't want to hear that (no matter how true it may be) unless you specifically tell them otherwise. You need to make sure that it's in Albus's chart that you want to know about all options, including euthanasia. And specifically ask the question: "If this were your cat, would you think it's time to put him to sleep?" If the answer is "No," then ask why, and specifically say, "When you think that time has come, please tell me."
• When Pretzel had cancer of the sebaceous (ear wax) gland we opted for surgery, and it seemed to work. Then the cancer came back. More surgery, which again seemed successful. And it came back again. It became obvious that it couldn't be fixed surgically, and we opted not to spend thousands of dollars to put her through chemo, when there were no guarantees. Instead we put her on an extremely good pain medication, and when she made it obvious that the pain pills were no longer effective we asked her doctor to come over to put her to sleep (fortunately, like you, we already had a mobile vet). We sat down next to each other, held her on both our laps, petted her, talked about what a wonderful kitty she was, and said goodbye to her, though she didn't say goodbye to us as she didn't know what was about to happen. When she was purring her loudest we nodded to the vet and she came over and gave Pretzel the shot. It was the most peaceful ending imaginable.
• The thing is, that worked for us, and for Pretzel, because it was obvious when she was in pain; which very frequently is untrue of cats. Here is an article about how to tell: 35 Signs That Your Cat May Be In Pain
• Don't give up hope until after you've spoken with the vet; you don't know yet that it's cancer. If it's benign, even at Albus's somewhat advanced age it may well be worth removing it. Ask!

Margret

 

[dragoriana]

Oh I feel for you =( They may opt for surgery, chemo or radiotherapy but of course it all depends exactly where the lump is, size, your kitties overall health, what side effects/recovery can be like, and most importantly what you think is the best option for Albus's best chance at a pain free happy rest of his life once they give you all that info.

Charlie had squamous cell carcinoma (and I am not saying what your kitty has is a cancer or even life threatening, just my experience). Like Margret, we went with surgery. And as soon as it healed the lump grew back and even more aggressive. We had the option of more surgery (total ear removal with no guarantee it hadn't spread) and also to pretty much open him up to search his body for other signs of cancer. He was an old cat and it was just too much for him to go through. And similar too in the end he didn't know what was going to happen, he was very quite and half asleep and he went peacefully. They had said another 6 months would have been a stretch and the time kind of just came when we all realised.

Whatever the vets say, make sure they give you all the info, make sure all your questions and concerns are clarified. I hope that it's just an annoying lump that can be taken out and that Albus will give you more years of companionship.