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My precious cat has stomach cancer. The vet has confirmed its aggressive and he has had three lots of chemo. For two days after he seems very spaced out but my concern is that the journey back from the vets now
after treatment is causing him great stress. He has started going mad in his basket,clawing the basket,its contents and the wire so much so
yesterday when I got home there was blood everywhere as he had gone that mad that he pulled his claws out. Is it worth putting him through this stress. If I stop treatment now am I doing more harm than good. His results so far on his bone marrow have been good.
Linda, UK |
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Dear Linda,
Cancer is something that is always very difficult to deal with and in this sort of case you have to look at a couple things. First if the cancer is aggressive any level of chemotherapy will be purely palliative and will not cure your cat. Secondly you need to look at how much longer is the cat likely to get with chemotherapy and is this worth the pain and distress that you and the cat are going through. Chemotherapy can be done in many ways some of which are less likely to cause distress but also less likely to give a good resolution as well. In my experience the only stomach or intestinal cancer that is worth treating is Lymphoma and then I treat them gently as being too agressive can cause rupture of the bowel and peritonitis. Any other form I would try to discuss the relief of pain and eventual euthanasia as a better option. The timing of euthanasia always a very personal thing for everyone as an individual but I sometimes like to think of the greek origins of the words were it literally means "the gentle death". I would much prefer to have one of my cats die a gentle death than a prolonged and painful one but where chemotherapy works the joy of having the pet for a lot longer period is hard to put any value on.
Paul J. Wilson
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