Hi everyone, first time poster but I have seen how helpful you all are and I'm hoping that you can help with offering advice for my little lady.
Tilly is 13 years old, I've had her since she was 7 weeks old and she is my best friend and shadow. For a little while I had noticed she was chewing her food on one side and was struggling to eat hard biscuits and treats, so I switched her on to wet food only and booked a vets appointment.
To my absolute shock, the vet said she has an abdominal mass and it feels really bad, I asked what they could do and they said they could do an ultrasound to see what organs are involved and a blood test, I agreed to both of these. The vet phoned me with the results of the ultrasound and said it was quite hard to see what's going on but it looks like theres a big tumor and it could be attached to the kidney. He then phoned me with the blood test results and said it may not be the kidney because he would expect the blood results to be worse if the Kidney was involved. He also asked me if she was blind because he'd noticed her pupils were dilated, I told him her pupils only dilated because she was so anxious about being left somewhere without me for the first time in her life. She wasn't blind before that appointment, she was chasing the laser just weeks ago before all of this, and she still follows the laser light but there is definitely something not right with her eyes at the moment.
I asked what my options were, he said biopsy/surgery but that he advised me not to put her through that as he doesn't think she'd come through it (she's such a small cat and always has been). He gave her a steroid shot and asked us to come back in a week. I decided to get a second opinion. The new vet felt her stomach and said he can definitely feel quite a big mass, and that he could do an ultrasound the following week and prescribed her a 2 week antibiotic and metacam, even though he knew she still had a steroid injection in her system and metacam and steroids don't mix, I didn't find this out until I'd already given her a small dose in her food (luckily she didn't eat much of it).
Sorry this is so long and thank you for staying with me this far. Needless to say, I found another vet, they did a quick ultrasound and said yeah she has a tumor but it's impossible to see what's attached to what, gave me some prednisolone for her and told me I only have weeks left with her.
I am beyond heartbroken, I am caring for her 24/7 and it's hurting me so much to see her like this. Should they not be giving her some pain relief? Should they not be ruling out other things that can cause abdominal masses? Everything was fine a few weeks ago and this has hit me like a ton of bricks. The prednisolone doesn't seem to be working much and she hates me for having to give it to her every night. Please help me, any advice would be so much appreciated.
Tilly is 13 years old, I've had her since she was 7 weeks old and she is my best friend and shadow. For a little while I had noticed she was chewing her food on one side and was struggling to eat hard biscuits and treats, so I switched her on to wet food only and booked a vets appointment.
To my absolute shock, the vet said she has an abdominal mass and it feels really bad, I asked what they could do and they said they could do an ultrasound to see what organs are involved and a blood test, I agreed to both of these. The vet phoned me with the results of the ultrasound and said it was quite hard to see what's going on but it looks like theres a big tumor and it could be attached to the kidney. He then phoned me with the blood test results and said it may not be the kidney because he would expect the blood results to be worse if the Kidney was involved. He also asked me if she was blind because he'd noticed her pupils were dilated, I told him her pupils only dilated because she was so anxious about being left somewhere without me for the first time in her life. She wasn't blind before that appointment, she was chasing the laser just weeks ago before all of this, and she still follows the laser light but there is definitely something not right with her eyes at the moment.
I asked what my options were, he said biopsy/surgery but that he advised me not to put her through that as he doesn't think she'd come through it (she's such a small cat and always has been). He gave her a steroid shot and asked us to come back in a week. I decided to get a second opinion. The new vet felt her stomach and said he can definitely feel quite a big mass, and that he could do an ultrasound the following week and prescribed her a 2 week antibiotic and metacam, even though he knew she still had a steroid injection in her system and metacam and steroids don't mix, I didn't find this out until I'd already given her a small dose in her food (luckily she didn't eat much of it).
Sorry this is so long and thank you for staying with me this far. Needless to say, I found another vet, they did a quick ultrasound and said yeah she has a tumor but it's impossible to see what's attached to what, gave me some prednisolone for her and told me I only have weeks left with her.
I am beyond heartbroken, I am caring for her 24/7 and it's hurting me so much to see her like this. Should they not be giving her some pain relief? Should they not be ruling out other things that can cause abdominal masses? Everything was fine a few weeks ago and this has hit me like a ton of bricks. The prednisolone doesn't seem to be working much and she hates me for having to give it to her every night. Please help me, any advice would be so much appreciated.