Anticipatory Grief

[Zardnaar]

On a related topic, one thing I will always remember that came from a vet. When the time comes to say goodbye, a lot of people won't go to the back room because they can't or won't handle seeing their pet put to sleep. But that last moment, alone with the vet, is scary for the pet. The vet said often the pets will look around looking for their family (cuz in most cases, the vet is stressful already for the animal). So if you can, stay with your pet so the last thing they see and feel is your comfort, even if it's hard for you.

We lost Ember a couple of years back. Little cat.

Held her paw patting her at the end wife starts bawling. Its rough.

We didn't recognize cancer symptoms and had her tested twice a year so it was kinda rapid.

We have another elderly cat. Not sure how old he is we've had him 15 years next month. Adopted from SPCA full grown he's probably 16/17.

The Muppet in my avatar is my nephew cat. Stray I rehomed to my SiL place. He likes my nephew a lot but is equal opportunity moocher.

 

[Umbran]

So, on the medical front...

Meds are holding up, for now. The cat's not hiding, and is staying social, feels good enough to get on the bed herself, and so on, which is great.

We've spoken with an oncologist, and have a game plan. We will be going with chemotherapy. Rather than speak in averages, she laid it out in terms of populations: With this kind of cancer and treatment, there's basically three buckets. Maybe a third just don't respond, and live a month or two. Another third will see partial remission (tumor gets smaller, the animal has reduced symptoms), and get about six months - you have to eventually stop the chemo, and the cancer comes back. Another third get greater remission, and make it through more like 10 months.

Which, to us, reads as, "a 2/3 chance of 6+ more months," and that doesn't suck.

It won't be cheap, but it is within our means, and we love this cat to heck and back.