S.c.c

Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Gingiva

For the past little while my cat of 15 years has been losing weight, she is mainly an indoor cat but sometimes goes outdoors. Thinking she had a worm i got a perscribed worm pill from our vet, two weeks later she still had not gained any weight back, she bairly ate (dry food) I thought maybe a bad tooth or abscess in the mouth so last thursday I took her back to the vet as she would not let me look in her mouth. She was experiencing some symptoms....bad breath, drooling, some discharge from the mouth and is unable to clean herself, a fanatic she is in cleaning herself. The vet checked her mouth and under the tongue proceeded to find a large rapidly growing tumor. There is nothing we can do for her, she is too old to go through radiation treatments and it is way too expensive, no guarantee of course that it will not return or she would even come through the operation. I decided at the time to bring her home, she is on borrowed time, thus to love, spoil her and make her as comfortable as possible. It is a very rapid growing tumor, most pets are given all of a few weeks after diagnosed. She continues to eat soft food with gravy, with help but today is unable to drink. There are no other signs of ailments. I just wanted to share this with the forum and have done lots of research in the past few days, please be aware of any sudden changes in your felines health, maybe i waited too late and now feel guilty.......I refuse to let her suffer and have scheduled a visit to the vet this week.

 

Sorry to hear about your pet. At least you did the right thing and took her to the vet. Too many people try to diagnose on their own and then complain about the death of their pets. You have done all you can and now have provided great information to all who read this Forum.

 

Don't beat yourself up or feel guilty. We who have animals have all gone through this. I'm sure kitty knows she is loved and that you have done your most unselfish best to help.

 

Thanks to you both for your thoughts and kind words, if i thought I could help another pet by offering to share my experience, then I feel better for posting. I also found out today that it is quite common too in dogs.
Thanks again!