Well, I have a sad update on the cat laryngitis. When we looked up cat laryngitis online, it said it’s nothing to be concerned about—but that if you notice the cat panting, or breathing through its mouth, a vet visit is warranted. And the cat breathed through his mouth a couple of times, and so I called the vet, feeling like a Right Fool who was about to pay $500 to find out her cat had a cold. But instead it seems to be lung cancer.
This does not mean you should panic if your cat temporarily loses its meow! And in fact, the one thing bothering the vet is that the Area of Concern on the x-ray is not in an area that explains the cat laryngitis. She says the most likely explanation by far is that there is an additional Area of Concern in/near his larynx, and that it just didn’t show up on the x-ray, as many such things do not; but she says there is a Slim Hope that this could instead be a lung parasite, which WOULD account for the Area of Concern AND the laryngitis. So she has given him a course of anti-parasite medicine Just To Make Sure before we start having Hard Discussions. But her entire manner told me she thinks this will not work and that we will be having the Hard Discussion.
One of the things I love about this vet is how easy she makes those hard discussions. She always acts as if she would be 100% Here For It if I were to tell her I wanted to do everything in our expensive power to save the cat—but she also acts as if she personally thinks it makes absolute sense to instead choose NOT to do those things.
I am sad, of course: he’s a good cat; and he’s Elizabeth’s baby, and so I also feel sad for her. But—this is a 12-14-year-old cat with Cat IBD; and one of his kidneys shut down for no apparent reason; and he had kidney stone surgery recently, and the lab analysis of the stones shows they are the kind that will almost certainly recur and can’t really be prevented. The wheels are coming off this cat, is what I’m saying. And although I was willing to pay for the original kidney-stone surgery, and also pay for the expensive food just in case it DID work and he never needed more surgeries, my feeling was that with Elizabeth leaving for college in a year…and a cat who is not happy when Elizabeth is not home…well, perhaps we could consider the cat to be in his Final Year. And if the stones didn’t recur, well, lovely! We’d be happy to continue having him with us! But…if they DID recur…well, I mean, the timing seemed about right. Lung cancer may change the timing, but not by MUCH.
I wish I had asked the vet what kind of timeframe we were looking at. She mentioned that we can keep him comfortable for awhile / until it’s Time by switching from the IBD Dose of his steroid to the Cancer Dose, but I don’t know if we’re talking about weeks? months? It seems like if he DOES have something in/near his larynx, and it is already messing with his breathing, that it won’t be very long before there are Quality of Life issues. Well, we are giving him lots of skritches and cuddles, and we are taking lots of photos.
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear this!
Poor baby. I’m sorry to hear this.
I am so sorry to hear this. It’s wonderful you love your vet – that makes these situations a tiny bit easier. I do not love our current vet and recently they had a sub filling in, and he was SO GOOD. But he’s retired and only does fill-in work.
I wish kitty and your family the very best of days ahead.
We recently got two kittens after my wanting one for 2 decades of marriage now, but I was always voted out by husband and kids wanting multiple dogs over the years. The kids are older now, so they “allowed” me cats finally and man, had I forgotten the everyday joy they bring (I had kitties as a kid). So sorry about yours!
I am so sorry about your sad news, but glad you are working with the right vet on this.
Am so sad for all of you. We had a cat that had lung cancer. She didn’t show many signs of declining health and she was with us for almost a year after her diagnosis. Think this was mainly due to animals covering up signs of illness rather than her not having any problems.
However, when it was Time, it happened very quickly. As in, she was fine when I left for work one morning and by the time I got home she was panting heavily and obviously having trouble breathing.
Awww, kitty. I’m so glad you have a great vet who makes you feel good about all the options. What a difference that makes in an already stressful and sad pet situation. Sending love to all of you.
I am so sorry! It’s never easy to make these decisions, but your vet sounds like she will be a great help. I hope all goes as smoothly as it can.
Oh, no…I’m so sorry to hear/read this. Poor kitty, poor Elizabeth and of course poor you since you have double-feeling-bad for kitty and your daughter. I can only imagine how hard the thought is of losing a beloved pet you’ve had for years.
I’m glad, though, that your vet is great about these things. No one needs to feel pressure either way as it’s hard enough to face this alone.
Sending extra scritches! I just loved her silent-meow video! So cute!!
Oh Swistle! I am so sorry. What sad news indeed. I know this story all too well. Barkley was diagnosed with cancer in his mouth in January 2021. Our options were to remove part of his job, put him through radiation, or to let things go and make him comfortable. He was nearly 13 at the time, with other health things (arthritis, huge lump on his side), so we opted for the “make him comfortable” option. I prepared myself for him to not last until spring, but he ended up living another year and a half. I think it was the complete indulgence we gave him that made him last so long! Ha! Seriously though, you just never know. He was 14 when he died, which is as much as could ever be expected from a dog his size. It’s never easy but I think not prolonging a pet’s life with intensive medical care is often the kindest thing to do. Good luck. xoxo
I am so so sorry.
I just had a similar conversation with my vet about my 15-yr old cat – if things start Going Downhill, he’s had a great life and will NOT be the type of cat to take kindly to lots of medications and treatments, so I just want to be on the lookout for signs that he’s no longer happy/healthy, and then.. well. I am also glad my vet seemed on the same page about this being an equally valid choice to make.
Oh, I’m sorry, for you, and Elizabeth and the cat.
I am so sorry. That’s really hard. Thinking of you all, and especially Elizabeth. XOXOXO
Vets typically use low doses of chemo for cancer – few side effects but the chemo just prolongs life slightly, the doses are too low to cure pets. This is because veterinarian ethicists say pets can’t consent to side effects for a possibly longer life, so we shouldn’t make them endure pain or discomfort.
I think that this is freeing to know – there should be no judgement when you chose not to aggressively treat a pet. Shots and vet visits and surgery absolutely impact quality of life for many pets, and the trade-off is often months not years. Choosing to make an animal comfortable, can be the most humane choice.
I’m so sorry. I’m thankful that you (and we also) have a vet like that because they are The Best.
I also recently underwent a tooth extraction (and decided to be asleep because, as one of your readers advised you, there isn’t much unpleasantness in life that you can choose to check out for) and preparing for an implant and am so thankful for your careful outlining of such things as someone who has a brain that works like mine so I am happy/sad to have experience in this realm so that I can, maybe a bit, repay you.
A few years ago we had a 13 year old cat with throat cancer. We came home with pain medication and would give it to him orally when he would tolerate it and things would be better for a few days to a week or so (purring, eating enthusiastically again, wanting affection) but when we went on vacation he was very unhappy without us (which makes me consider how he would be anyway when Elizabeth goes off to college). The cat sitter fed him under the bed and I felt like we shouldn’t have even gone on vacation that year but it was already booked, etc. I think we had about a month and a half of time where we knew we were saying a slow goodbye. Our vet said you should decide BEFORE the bad days outweigh the good, about when it’s 50/50. It was a peaceful decision when it was time.
Well shit, that sucks. I was thinking the cat laryngitis was so cute. That is a treasure of a vet indeed. I’ve heard that veterinarians as a profession have a high suicide rate because animal suffering is hard to watch and because of the abuse they have to take from people who think vet care is too expensive, and I have all the sympathy for that. But I’ve also had friends be very poorly treated by veterinarians who blame them for neglecting their animals when they didn’t and make them feel guilty about, as you said, NOT doing all those things.
I am so sorry. We lost our 11 year old cat nearly four years ago. He started showing symptoms in summer, and it was time to let him go in November that year (stomach cancer). After seeing my SIL spend many thousands on chemo for an older cat (not a young pet), my husband and I agreed way ahead of time that we would keep our cats comfortable and as healthy as possible, without drastic medical measures that would impact of their quality of life, especially as they get older. So, that being said, considering this as Cat’s Final Year is so, so understandable and I think is an excellent option for everyone involved.
Aw, I’m so sorry. We just recently went through a very similar situation. We paid for two knee surgeries for our Boston Terrier when she was young, and ever since then we joked that she’d better not get cancer because we’re done spending gobs of money on the dog.
It became clear this summer that something was not right. We had an x-ray and they said there’s a mass, which was either her liver (which was troublesome before) or a tumor. We didn’t go any further than that. The dog was 100% my daughter’s baby and she just graduated from high school this year, so the timing was actually pretty good. About 2 weeks before she left for college it became clear that Lily was near the end, and my daughter was able to be there when we put Lily down. My daughter realized that it was better this way, than if the dog had had died when she was away at school. It was sad, but it was okay.
Poor kitty. Poor Elizabeth. Hugs! From everything you have said, she sounds well prepared for adulting, but this is a crappy kind to start with.