I'm pretty devastated as it's only been 6 months since losing Minnie... now her littermate/sister Mikki most likely has sarcoma. She has a firm bump on her lower leg and we took her to the vet today. Just by feel, the vet felt pretty confident that's what it is, then they tried to do a needle aspiration and basically blood came out..which coincides with sarcoma tumors. They couldn't get any cells to send in, thus we will have to reschedule to get an indepth partial removal of the tumor for proper diagnosis. Because of the location, the vet felt they most likely cannot simply remove the complete tumor so the only option will be amputation if we want to make sure we get it all.
I don't know how quickly these things spread...or how soon it would affect her health..she walks, jumps, eats, uses litterbox just fine. Since losing Minnie she totally has changed... clingy and meows in the night a lot more..even in the day sometimes.... which of course could mean she's not feeling up to par instead of what we thought may have been grieving at first...then we thought her meowing may have become a habit. She did meow in the night even before Minnie was sick, only a few minutes after everyone would go to bed...kinda seperation anxiety but would come to us if we called her and was fine.
I am pretty "weak" at these kind of things...I take it all to heart and get all worked up when I think they're suffering. I can't imagine amputating a leg and doing that to her..especially if cancer should pop up in another spot after putting her through that... but ... I know they can adjust very well without all 4's. I think the back leg will be more difficult...no jumping... not sure how that affects balance in the litterbox?
She aldo has skin issues...gets a lil scab then will lick at it til it becomes a hot spot. Vet said allergy of some sort and gave her a steroid shot..(wasn't crazy about that but went with it this once) as Mik doesn't really seem to be an itchy cat... a spot appears then she goes after it... but I found an interesting article that inflamation issues can appear as skin issues... and it can be a gene thing...and can trigger sarcomas... in that case a tumor could pop up anywhere... my mind is all over the place ...
Hubby is all for amputation especially if she would be cancer free. I'm going back and forth... wish I knew how quickly symptoms would affect her... our son had noticed it at Christmas and we "put it off" probably in denial , I wanted it looked at..hubby thought it's prolly just a fatty tissue thing..but it hasn't appeared to get any bigger since Christmas... and again, other than meowing more and cuddling more, she hasn't changed in other ways.
I'd appreciate knowing your views on this... I understand it's ultimately our decision for Mikki but would love to get different perspectives.
Here's my cuddle bug:
I don't know how quickly these things spread...or how soon it would affect her health..she walks, jumps, eats, uses litterbox just fine. Since losing Minnie she totally has changed... clingy and meows in the night a lot more..even in the day sometimes.... which of course could mean she's not feeling up to par instead of what we thought may have been grieving at first...then we thought her meowing may have become a habit. She did meow in the night even before Minnie was sick, only a few minutes after everyone would go to bed...kinda seperation anxiety but would come to us if we called her and was fine.
I am pretty "weak" at these kind of things...I take it all to heart and get all worked up when I think they're suffering. I can't imagine amputating a leg and doing that to her..especially if cancer should pop up in another spot after putting her through that... but ... I know they can adjust very well without all 4's. I think the back leg will be more difficult...no jumping... not sure how that affects balance in the litterbox?
She aldo has skin issues...gets a lil scab then will lick at it til it becomes a hot spot. Vet said allergy of some sort and gave her a steroid shot..(wasn't crazy about that but went with it this once) as Mik doesn't really seem to be an itchy cat... a spot appears then she goes after it... but I found an interesting article that inflamation issues can appear as skin issues... and it can be a gene thing...and can trigger sarcomas... in that case a tumor could pop up anywhere... my mind is all over the place ...
Hubby is all for amputation especially if she would be cancer free. I'm going back and forth... wish I knew how quickly symptoms would affect her... our son had noticed it at Christmas and we "put it off" probably in denial , I wanted it looked at..hubby thought it's prolly just a fatty tissue thing..but it hasn't appeared to get any bigger since Christmas... and again, other than meowing more and cuddling more, she hasn't changed in other ways.
I'd appreciate knowing your views on this... I understand it's ultimately our decision for Mikki but would love to get different perspectives.
Here's my cuddle bug: