a veterinary question about eyelid cancer...

[freeone77]

Hi,

I have a female cat, 17.5 years old, and she has a squamous cell carcinoma on her eyelid.  This was not biopsied but was diagnosed by the vet by examination.  Since her visit in Nov. the tumor is large enough to obscure her whole left eye. My question is: how does an animal actually die from this? She shows no signs of slowing down. Surgery is not an option.  She is old and feeble, vomiting more and has some dementia and I was hoping she would go quickly from this, but it has been 7 months.  How would a tumor like this cause her to die?  I hope this doesn't sound morbid. I cannot bring myself to euthanize her.  Thank you very much.

[evewisewoman]

I agree with JerryNJ's suggestion to write your comments on another
forum. There are two forums which you could post these comments
on. I would go to the top of the page that says the word FORUMS.
Put the arrow on the word FORUMS and a drop down menu will appear.
You want the one that says MEDICAL FORUMS. Click on that one.
There is a section called " Ask a Doctor" Forums. Scroll down to the
letter C. There is a forum called Cancer in Pets Expert Forum".
There is a small disclaimer. I wanted to see how many posts there were
in this forum and there are a lot. So I pressed I agree and suddenly
I saw many posts on members with cats and dogs with cancer. These
forums are answered by qualified vets and as the title of your post is
a veterinary question about eyelid cancer, I thought that perhaps this
would be a good place to write your comments about your kitty.
I have had two kitties that were diagnosed with cancer and I know how
hard this is to watch happen. My cats did not live as long as your cat.
One of my dear kitties got cancer when she was 14 years old.
My other darling kitty was diagnosed with spleen cancer about four
years ago now and we had to put her to sleep the cancer was too far
advanced even though I agreed to surgery where her spleen was
removed, but three months later the cancer returned.
There is also another forum called Cat's Community on the same
side as " Ask a Doctor Forums" . I believe it's under the heading of
Communities. I'm a member of this community. All the members of
this forum are all cat parents and give helpful and kind advice.
I want you to keep something in mind. Your darling kitty is over seventeen
years old. Now she has a tumor which has obscured her left eye.
You described her as being old and feeble. That she has dementia,
that she is vomiting more. I say this in the kindest way possible.
I wouldn't opt for surgery. She's an old kitty and may not even survive
the surgery. Say you do decide to have your cat have the surgery.
Which would no doubt be very stressful for her as you say she already
has dementia. You need to think of her quality of life. You say you cannot
bring yourself to euthanize her. I don't like the word euthanize.
Putting an loved animal to sleep is the kindest thing you can do when
an animal has cancer. The cancer could come back in another part of
her body. That's the insidious thing about cancer. I don't want to tell you
what to do in your case. You said in your post, surgery is not an option.
You said you were hoping she would go quickly from this, but you said
it's been 7 months. From everything I've read, cancer does not take an
animal quickly. It depends on the type of cancer, but cancer is cancer
and it can and does spread and metasizes. You don't want your kitty
to suffer, I'm sure. Okay. Now the decision is yours. You may want to
get other Medhelp members opinions. Why don't you write your post
on one or maybe both of the forums I've mentioned in my comments.

[Jerry_NJ]

You might do better on the dog or cat forum.  I use the dog form often and it is at:  http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Dogs/show/4  Someone there may be able to help directly or refer you to the cat forum, or look on the pull down menu above "Forums" and look for "cat".

Now reading your post euthanize came immediately to mind.  I guess some cats live a long time but 17 years sounds like longer than usual.

If the cat is otherwise healthy I'd go for surgery to remove the growth not so much to cure the cancer as to make the end-of-life less stressful for the cat and owner.  Still be generous with yourself and the cat and put it's life to an end if the quality of life is worse than death.  I say this as an older person and empathise both as a pet owner and a human looking toward that on a personal level.