As I explained in a prior blog post, my sweet sixteen-and-a-half year old cat, Alice, was diagnosed with cancer soon before Christmas. At that time, the vet drained the large lump on her side and gave her a shot of a cortico-steroid.

We were back for a follow-up today. Other than losing another 3 ounces, she seems to be doing well. She eats, drinks, uses the litter box, and meows for attention. She will sleep lying on either side; I would think if she were in pain she would avoid that side. The tumor, while still huge, does not appear to have gained much size in the past three weeks.

So, after talking over options with the vet, we have decided to take her back in two weeks for a shot of a chemo drug. I think it's vincrostine, but I'm not positive since I did not write it down.

Chemo drugs don't tend to have the same severe side effects in cats as they do in humans, and based on my own research and what the vet said, 80-90% experience no ill effects at all. Some may have gastrointestinal upset, which is usually minor. We will try the first shot and if it makes her sick, we won't give it to her again and just stick with the steroid. If she tolerates it, she will go back every two weeks and alternate between the steroid and the chemo drug.

These decisions are painfully difficult to make. I don't want to drag my dear cat through all sorts of painful or stressful treatments at this stage of her life. However, all told she was out of the house for an hour and a half, including drive time and office time, and when I let her out of her crate she did not even hide but went rubbing up against corners of rooms and checking out her dishes. With treatment, the vet said she could possibly have as much as 6 months left (though if she keeps dropping weight that won't happen). So the question is, are the few hours of stress a month worth it if she gets a few months more of happy life? In my mind, it is though I can see why others would make a different decision. Without at least the steroid for appetite and inflammation control, I don't think she'd last too long at all.

As for the weight, I plan on giving her a lot more canned food. She normally eats kibble, but she does love canned and as the vet put it, at this point feed her whatever she will eat. I buy her the good ones, that are just fish and some vitamins and stuff (after the pet food scare I won't buy anything with wheat gluten in it). I'll up her intake of that gradually over a week or so to avoid tummy upset and see if I can keep some weight on her. She's down to 9.1 pounds from a lifetime high of just over 10, and while she's not looking skinny yet (just very fit) she really should not lose much more.

So that's where things stand. The treatments are under $20 each, which I think is positively amazing. And I still hold out hope that one night in the next few months she'll just drift off to sleep and not wake up, so that I am not left making that ultimate decision for her.