Lung Cancer

I have been posting recently about my Jaspurr, who has had asthma symptoms for most of his 10 years. Recently, he had what seemed to be a worse than usual "attack". He went through the typical hacking sounds and then had somewhat labored breathing, but never anything involving panting or open mouth breathing. I took him in to the vet (a new one) who did x-rays and said he saw what he called a "mass" but he couldn't tell me exactly what it was. So, he referred me to another practice for an ultrasound. The ultrasound turned out to be inconclusive, too. But the vet there mentioned she saw some small "spots" on the other lung as well, when she looked at the x-rays. My new regular vet sent the x-rays out to a radiologist for further evaluation. All of the docs involved in this seem to think it's cancer. Unbelievably, no vet we have ever used previously recommended x-rays as most of them wrote off his breathing issues to allergies. So, we have nothing to compare this to. They always listened to his lungs and declared the problems he was having to be more sinus related. We also had blood work done recently and everything came back 100 percent normal. SO. Yes, I am probably in denial, but my logical mind is having a hard time believing this is cancer, since the characteristics of the problem are the same as they have been for most of his life. I have stated that to my vet and he agrees that he has none of the classic symptoms associated with cancer. He has no problems otherwise. He isn't losing weight - he's actually picked up some. He eats like a horse. He doesn't have frequent coughing or hacking - only every few weeks or so and then only once or twice. He has always had rather noisy breathing, especially when he's asleep and snoring. Of course, the only way to know for sure is a biopsy and I refuse to put him through anesthesia, especially with his breathing issues.

For some reason when I got a bill today for the radiologist referral it just put me in the doldrums, thinking that it might actually be cancer. I guess just seeing that in black and white made it more real. I know nobody can tell me, but just wondering how you would see this situation if it were one of your cats. Or if you've had experience with early symptoms. Even if it does turn out to be cancer I would never put him through surgery and/or chemo/radiation, etc. But I know I'm going to worry about it until it is all said and done.

I guess if you are clear you do not feel it is right to put Jaspurr through any anaesthesia or surgery your best option is close observations and monitoring with the vets to be sure you are catching any changes in Jaspurr's overall health and indications he could be in pain. At the moment, from what you say he sounds to be in good form and I get you not wanting to risk changing this.
Just be sure you are not going to give yourself a hard time if Jaspurr's health shows changes and the vets' thoughts on cancer turn out to be accurate - what ifs and regretting not taking earlier action can be very very hard. But then, so can what ifs and regrets when intervention goes'wrong'. Easy for others to give advice on what to do but you know yourself better than others and you also know Jaspurr. It's really hard, and worrying I'm sure.
I hope the vets thoughts about the mass are wrong and Jaspurr stays healthy.

Thank you. Yes, I am firm on my decision not to put him through surgery or any stressful treatment. I have accepted the fact that he could indeed have cancer. I am just not convinced.

Vets are very inconsistent.

I had one vet tell me the cat had cancer, and it was a benign tumor (the vet was inexperienced). It would seem odd to have lung cancer his whole life unless it's some sort of benign growth. One person had lung tumor diagnosed and it ended up being a toy he breathed in long ago, so the doctors apparently can't really tell even for people.

Gosh, we've run quite the gamut of experiences with our kitties.

Sometimes we just intuitively knew our cats had a particular problem, and the vets refused to even consider it as a possibility or do the appropriate testing. Then by the time we finally found a vet that would take us seriously, the prognosis was much different than it may have been had our cats been able to receive the proper treatment when it could have made a difference.

And sometimes we've been given a pretty grim prognosis, which turned out not to be the case. Like Buddy. He had been diagnosed as having feline leukemia when someone essentially dumped him on our doorstep to die. Several vets recommended euthanizing him. Then we took him to yet another vet, and it turned out that he didn't have FeLV at all. He was FIV+. Several vets and five years later, Buddy is still here, thanks be to God.

Hopefully your vets are mistaken, and that the mass and spots on Jaspurr's x-ray are just an incidental finding that doesn't really indicate anything serious at all. That actually happened to one of my relatives who was initially misdiagnosed as having lung cancer.

If not, well, I hope and pray that Jaspurr is able to enjoy a good quality of life for as long as possible.