Darling Cat Has Cancer

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m reaching out to the Doper community because I’m a bit overwhelmed with the sudden diagnosis for my cat, Stella. She has malignant mammary gland cancer. She had a biopsy last week and is recovering well. Stella bounced back from surgery so well, I was convinced the tumor would be benign. Overall, she is in good health and spirits - active, affectionate, and hungry. The three options I am faced with are:

  1. A complete mastectomy of her right sided mammary glands. The procedure and follow-up care would cost $3,300.

  2. A chest x-ray, stomach scan, and complete bloodwork. Cost would be $1,000

  3. Do nothing

I wish I wouldn’t have to factor in cost for her care but I have been unemployed off and on for the past five years so I have no savings and my current temp job pays just enough to survive. Anyone else out there who has dealt with a similar situation? I’d appreciate advice/support and out of the box thinking. Stella is 8 years old and I adopted her from an animal shelter last year.

2

I’m so sorry for what you’re going through.

I’m not working, and waiting on a temp to hire job now, so I know it’s tough.

I think I would see if any family member or close friend might be willing to help me with vet expenses. Of course, I would see if I could arrange any type of payment plan with the vet.

As for your options:

If the vet thought option one would take care of the cancer, I might try to swing it. Eight years old is youngish for a cat, and if I could get help paying, I’d consider it. I would hesitate to go for option two, since that appears to be searching for trouble that hasn’t shown up yet.

Or if all else fails, I would keep Stella as long as she seems to enjoy life.

I hope this helps. I’ve never had to deal with a cat having cancer. But I have had to let go of cats when I had to.

Don’t feel guilty if you can only afford option three. Stella is lucky to have you, who cares so deeply for her.

3

I’m sorry to hear it. Unfortunately, cost does eventually have to be considered, unless your last name is Trump. You might check around to see if there are cheaper vets locally. I recently had dysplasia surgery done for my german shepherd. I chose not to do the total hip replacement (about $4000 per side) and went with a FMO, a femoral head ostectomy. Instead of using the orthopedic surgeon, I used my vet, who has been doing this procedure for 30 years. I did one hip this year and he charged $700 for the surgery, rads and meds.

Good luck with your kitty.

StG

4

What is the prognosis with the various options? Is the vet willing to work with you on payments if you decide to go ahead?

It’s a tough question and the options for finding financial help are pretty limited. You might try the forums on www.bestfriends.org I’ve found answers to questions and practical help there in the past.

5

Its not a bad idea to get a second opinion and a second quote for the services. Prices can vary widely.

But assuming for the moment that the diagnosis is the diagnosis and the treatment is the treatment, there’s no way I would do a $4,000 cancer surgery on a cat. I’m not living hand to mouth but that doesn’t mean I can afford to spend that kind of money on a pet.

Aside from the money, significant surgeries have to add A LOT to an animals’ quality of life before I would even consider them. Animals cannot understand the meaning of the suffering they experience during the surgery, chemo, and healing process - it’s no different to them from suffering from cancer. In my opinion it isn’t kind to put them through that for a small payoff.

And isn’t cancer of this type likely to metasticize and reoccur? Because you know what would suck? Being $4,000 poorer and still having a dead cat a year from now.

6

I’m sorry for the diagnosis.

[Veterinarian comment]Go check your PM. [/veterinarian comment]

7

Of course there can be no discussion of cats without pictures.

8

I would spend the $1000 for the x-ray, blood work and stomach scan too see if the cancer has spread. If the cancer has spread, I wouldn’t put her through the surgery, just do palliative care.

If the cancer is confined to the mammary tissue, I would pay for the surgery if they could give me good odds they could get it all. Are they telling you she needs chemo after the treatment? What about chemo to shrink the tumors prior to surgery? (I only ask about this option because my rescue had a dog pulled who had her mammary tumors shrunken prior to surgery with chemo, I don’t know if this is an option with cats).

I really feel for your situation. I spent $4000 on a cat this year to diagnose and treat IBD and cholangitis. It’s been a long 10 months of back and forth, with specialists and what not. I didn’t want to put a dollar value on what I would pay, but when her liver values starting coming up for no apparent reason and they wanted to do a surgical biopsy for an additional $2000, I needed to stop and re-evaluate the situation. It ended up working out, we didn’t do the biopsy and her liver values were elevated due to a very rare reaction to metronidazole (which she was on and off from January to July). It’s taken since July when we started this line of treatment, but she finally has normal liver values and has gained her weight back. If her liver problems had been due to something else, I’m not sure how much further we would have gone. At that point in time, my husband and I decided we didn’t want to make her suffer much more, she was down from 11 lbs to 7 and was clearly not happy.

You can also look into Care Credit or a payment plan at the vet. Both my specialist and my regular vet use Care Credit.

Good luck and (hugs).

9

Wikipedia says “the average life expectancy for male indoor cats at birth is around 12 to 14 years, with females usually living a year or two longer”. I know, not the best source, but I’m too lazy to find a better one. My point is that Stella isn’t elderly - she has a lot of purrs and cuddles left in her.

If I were you, I’d put down the money to get any tests she needs to determine whether the cancer has spread, and then google the crap out of success rates for treating the type of cancer she has in that location. I wouldn’t trust any one vet’s opinion who could potentially be treating her, because I’m sure there are vets out there who will be overly optimistic to get that 4.3k out of you. And then you can make an informed decision.

The only useful thing I have to add is that the cost of vet care seems to vary with the cost of living in your area (for routine shots and wellness checks at least) - so if you live in a city, you might want to price out vets in the suburbs. Or if you live in the suburbs, you might want to price out vets in the opposite direction of the way everyone drives to work in the morning.

IMHO saving the life of a beloved pet is one of those situations where racking up some debt is justifiable. And with each temp job you’re gaining experience and contacts that increase your chances of finding something permanent. But then only you know the details of your life to judge whether you can take that hit.

If you don’t already have one (and if there’s anything available in your area) could you find a part-time second job? Even if you’re only serving coffee / serving food / working retail every Sunday, you’ll have your foot in the door - so you’ll be in a position to ask for any available hours if you find yourself between temp jobs again. And that extra x a month could go towards your payment plan with the vet, or paying off the credit card bill from Stella’s treatment.

Is there some kind of kickstarter-like site for charitable causes out there? (DIY alternate: website and paypal account.) You could put together some heartwarming videos of your little friend, offer to refund money if you don’t raise enough, and cross your fingers that some wealthy animal lover is in the right place at the right time. It’s a long shot, but at least you’ll know you tried.

Maybe I’m a hopeless optimist, but perhaps in a few years you’ll be thanking Stella for giving you the extra motivation to go all out on your search for more permanent and lucrative employment - I’m certain that after 5 years, I’d be phoning it in, but hopefully you’re made of sterner stuff than I am.

10

I’m sorry to hear about poor Stella, is there another vet you can take her to, that all sounds very very expensive. My best friend took her poorly cat to a vet and paid a fortune for tests only to have to have the cat PTS in the end. She’s since found another vet for her other poorly cat and hasn’t been faffed around, and any tests that have been done have been half the price of the other vet.

((hugs))

11

I just popped back in to change my answer. I said I wouldn’t go for option two, but this reasoning makes a lot more sense than I did during my first response.

I endorse this post.

12

Thank you all for your replies! I am working hard on pulling together some money to cover the expenses. I’ve set up a fundraising site and I’ve applied for a grant. Unfortunately, I have already used up all my Carecredit on Stella’s biopsy and my vet does not offer financing. I can’t get into any more debt since I’m in a debt management program.

If I can pull together the money, I’m leaning toward scans and bloodwork. There is no 100% guarantee that the mastectomy will be curative. She might get her right mammary glands out this year and will need the other side out next year. But before worrying about that, it would be a good idea to check if I need to be worried. :slight_smile:

My family cat lived until he was 17 but the last couple of years were painful and sickly. I really would like Stella to make it to at least 15…

13

AmericanMaid - I’d still shop around for the price. The bloodwork and x-rays might be tons cheaper at another vet. Where are you located?

StG

14

I’m located in the extremely overpriced Boston, MA area where cost of living is ridonkulous.

15

Does the Tufts vet school have a clinic? I contribute money every year to Ohio State University’s vet school “Good Samaritan” fund, which helps pay for vet care for people who can’t afford it. Maybe Tufts has something similar.

16

I don’t have any advice beyond what’s been given. I’m so sorry you’re facing this sort of decision. I hope your cat gets better.

17

You might call the Merwin Free Clinic and see if they can provide the tests at a reduced rate.

StG

18

I’m very sorry to hear about your cat. I lost one of mine to inoperable cancer and it was very hard.

I have friends who breed Abysinians. Several of their breeding queens have developed breast cancer (apparently it is more common in cats that have had kittens). They went in for an aggressive approach in treating the first but it was unsuccessful, thereafter they have used palliative care only. From what they told me there is a poor survival rate after masectomy in cats.

Now you are in a different country and this was some years ago but I think you should look very carefully at survival rates before embarking on a course of treatment that may result in a good deal of suffering for you and your cat with not much return in increased lifespan.

Sorry to have expressed such a gloomy outlook. I wish the best for you and Stella.

19

AmericanMaid I’m really sorry!!!

It blows when our fur-kids are sick or hurting. My greyhound I had when I was a kid stepped off the couch one night and BAM! broke her leg! Osteosarcoma. She shattered her hind leg so much the bone fragments were slicing and chewing up her leg muscles. We opted to chop the leg off and have her at the clinic for physical therapy. In the end, because we could afford it, we had her at a super-duper-specialized(very few in the country, read:EXPENSIVE, sigh…)vet clinic who took excellent care of her. We were offered chemo but at that point it was just a matter of time. So we took her home and slept on the floor with her at night for two months helping her adjust and helping her acclimate to life with three legs. They said she had about 12 months with chemo, 6 without. We got nearly 18 months out of her before she told in her own way it time to go.

Only time I show deep anguish in public is when my animals die.

20

It is always sad to have a dying pet.

My first dog had cancer that was around where the kidneys emptied into the bladder. We spent about $3000 to give her chemo treatment. It involved a schedule of administering drugs every 6 or so hours for about a couple of months. She also had to have a catheter and be confined to a cage so she would not pull the catheter out. I regret doing the chemo on my dog. I don’t think that it improved her life. We had to stop the because treatment she was throwing up and just seemed sort of miserable. She did have a couple of normal weeks when we stopped the drugs but I am not sure the 8 weeks of treatment was worth it.

I think you should only consider treatment if there is a good chance that your cat will have a few years of quality life after the ordeal of treatment.