cancer in cat?

Question

My 12 year old cat was just recently diagnosed with cancer in her abdomen. I saw the Xrays. To be sure it is cancer, they said I could do a biopsy. But, I figured why. Put her through more pain when it cant be cure. Any input? Is the biopsy painful after?

Answer 1

There is a mass in the abdomen, we know it's cancer, but we don't know what kind. There are kinds of cancers that are better than others. Some are very aggressive, some are not. Some metastasize fast, some slow. The answers a biopsy will give you are what kind of cancer it is, how does this cancer behave, and is chemotherapy a reasonable option to sustain a quality of life for x number of days. You won't know the answer to these questions until you go looking for them.

There are several things you can do before a biopsy to see if it would even be worth it. First and foremost, is bloodwork. In a 12 year old cat there are many senior diseases that we worry about: diabetes, kidney failure, and hyperthyroidism. You want to have all this performed to make sure there are no other problems that could affect health and complicate anesthesia. Also, does the cat have and increased blood calcium? Many times this is indicative of lymphoma. You also want to make sure the cat is negative for FeLV and FIV before proceeding as this makes healing and treatment more difficult.

Another procedure you want to have completed prior to biopsy is to have chest radiographs (3 views) taken to make sure there are no metastases to the lungs, pericardium, mediastinum, etc. If this has already occurred, then this too complicates anesthesia and there would be no reason to proceed.

The next step can be tricky, biopsy or ultrasound. If the radiographs are very diagnostic in revealing the source of the tumor, then biopsy would be the next step. An ultrasound may be a better choice to tell us where the mass is, organ with which it is associated, and also to see if there are other metastases in the abdomen.

There are new procedures out there that enable biopsies in less invasive manner. It may be possible, depending on the size of your cat and the origin of the mass, to have mass biopsy via ultrasound guided fine needle aspirate or via trucut. Another possibility, depending on size is laparoscopy. Via laparoscopy, we can see inside the pet with a scope, look for metastasis, and perform full thickness biopsies via little incisions and ports. This is however difficult to perform on the very small patient and would depend on availability in your area.

An open exploratory is the next option. This is where the doctor would visually inspect the mass, other abdominal organs and be able to obtain biopsies on several different organs as well.

Endoscopically obtained biopsies of intestines are IMO pointless, if it becomes an option. The reason being that biopsies taken in this manner only obtain tissue from the intralumenal mucosa of the intestine and does not penetrate the other layers. Full thickness biopsies of the intestines are necessary to be diagnostic of lymphoma. Failure to obtain full thickness biopsies may result in missing it altogether and only obtaining normal tissue.

If appropriate pain management is applied your pet may experience some discomfort. There are also complications that may arise such as leaking from intestinal biopsy sites, peritonitis, etc. You may also opt to have the heart evaluated prior to anesthesia as cats can suffer from age related heart disease (dilated cardiomyelopathy to name one) without having any clinical signs and this is something that can complicate anesthesia. This can be done by chest radiographs, EKG and a cardiac ultrasound.

You need to decide before putting your cat though all this, if you are going to do chemotherapy or not if it is a treatment option. If not, then the only answer you gain is what it is and how long does your cat have left (something you may not want to know). If you are doing to go chemotherapy, then you need to be realistic about what it entails.

Chemotherapy in pets is very different from that in humans. In humans the objective is to kill the cancer completely, to put them into remission. In pets, the objective of chemotherapy is to keep the pet comfortable and to extend their life without diminishing their quality of life. For this reason, many pets do not get sick as humans do, loose their hair, etc. Chemotherapy may require you to bring your pet to a specialty hospital miles away every couple weeks for a period of time for injections, it make mean oral medication, etc. It may entail having bloodwork performed on a regular basis to see if the cat's vitals are within certain parameters.

Consider your pet and your relationship. Is your cat going to easily tolerate all this poking and prodding? Does your cat do well in the car? Does your cat do well at the vet's office? Do you have the time to care for your cat at home, take them to vet appointments, etc? Can you financially handle all that could arise? If after spending $3000 to sustain your cat's life 3 months, are you going to be mad at yourself, at your vet, or plunder yourself under such a pile of debt that you will have become destitute? I think it would be irresponsible for anyone to lead you down a path for which you were unprepared. And this is the reality of it.

Weather or not you choose the biopsy, whatever decision you make, is made in the best interest of your pet. Many will say, biopsy it, but they are not in your shoes, they haven't considered the above, and they don't have the relationship with your pet that you do. Talk to you vet, or referred vet if your vet refers you to a specialty hospital and get all the information up front before proceeding so that you are making an informed decision and a decision you can live with.

Answer 2

I'm so sorry to hear your kitty has cancer. We lost two cats to cancer, both abdominal. We did do the biopsy on one kitty - Jesus. We took him to an internal medicine specialist for an ultrasound which was abnormal. She then suggested an endoscopy where she took some biopsies. Jesus didn't act like he was in pain after the procedure. Actually he never did, except for the throwing up a lot. My husband just had some endoscopic biopsies and he didn't have any pain after, nor was his throat sore. Will they do it via endoscope or are they talking about surgery with stitches?

The biopsy did give us an absolute. There were no doubts he had cancer which made the other tough decisions less painful. But doing the biopsy for us was a "no brainer" because he was already at the vet and she could do then and there. If we had to take him back to the vet, I don't know if I would have done it. Well, actually as I write this - yes I do know. I would have done it - just to be sure. To make sure it wasn't a screw up and to see if may be it was something we could fix. Unless it was going to be a surgical procedure with stitches, than no I wouldn't it. That would be too much.

The absolute knowing helped for us. We euthanized Jesus at home, holding him and telling him how much we loved him. It was dreadfully hard, but we knew it was the best we could do for him.

Willie died 2 years before Jesus. He got too sick too fast for us to do a biopsy. I believe he was misdiagnosed with diabetes. I think he actually had pancreatic cancer. We tried for 7 months to get his insulin right and had lots of problems. Then he went down hill in a hurry and we couldn't fix it. We also euthanized him at home. Easily the worst day of my life. I wonder if there would have been anything we could have done for Willie if he had been diagnosed correctly early on.

But the short answer to your question - if you are comfortable that the diagnosis is correct, then no I wouldn't put her thru any more trips to the vet.

I hope this helps. Again, I'm sorry your kitty and you got such bad news. You'll be in my thoughts.

Answer 3

My cat also has cancer. She's lived for I think three years now since getting diagnosed. We have not done any chemotherapy or anything like that, because it was only going to extend her life somewhat, not cure her. She's lived way longer than she was supposed to anyway.

She had a biopsy on one tumor. It was a needle biopsy like others have said, not a big deal but not cheap.

They were going to try to remove it, but they do screening Xrays before surgery, and these showed another mass in her chest, so they would not do the surgery unless another biopsy showed that wasn't cancer. I did not do the second biopsy, because knowing she had the first tumor (plus other small tumors of a different type on her skin), what else was it going to be?

Through this, my test has been: what difference is it going to make? The vet has wanted to do different kinds of tests and things. When I ask what they'll do different based on the test, the answer often is, "Well, nothing, but we'll know what's going on." When this is the answer, or when they say a treatment might extend her life by a few months (and have her scared to death in the meantime), I decline.

Answer 4

Ive had a biopsy so I can only compare it to my personal experience. A biopsy consists of a needle which is inserted into a mass, and then removed with a small portion of the mass which will be sent to the lab to be tested to find out whether it is malignant or not. A biopsy is like getting a shot, so I doubt it will be painful following. I know they say that cancer is painful in itself, so that would be the worst part of it, not the biopsy. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

My 14 year old dog has cancer. We opted to not do the biopsy, too. Same reasons. It can't be cured and at her age putting her under would be risky. My friend's dog had stomach cancer. She kept her pain free until the end. It's really hard to know what is the right thing to do. Just know that other people out there do understand your choice. The biopsy might be painful to recover from. If it is not able to be cured then keep her comfy and well loved.

I'm sorry to hear of your trouble. I offer my sympathies.

Answer 6

They can do a biopsy during an ultrasound, they just shave the fur where the mass is, do an ultrasound (completely painless), and they get a biopsy with a small needle that they insert into the mass. It's just one poke, and the cats don't seem sore afterward. It's no worse than getting a shot.

Answer 7

My Aunts cat had mouth maximum cancers and that they only placed him down some days in the past. He became a older cat and obese too. they did no longer discover the main cancers quickly sufficient nevertheless. i'm sorry approximately your sisters cat confirm you the two appreciate all of the time which you have with him.

Answer 8

My 12-13 year old cat developed a cancerous tumor by his eye. Nothing we could do, he died a month later. If you have the money and you love this cat. Its up to you. Anethsia is used for all surgeries, but once they wake God knows how they are feeling.

Answer 9

do the biopsy she will be fine,there is chemo they can do but is expensive just make sure she's not suffering and decide when to let her go, sorry about your cat