Hi all,

I wish I had joined this forum under happier circumstances but as luck has it I am not. My cat Jess is just 6 years old and I noticed a couple of weeks ago that she was being a little distance and more quiet than usual and that she had lost weight, once she was quite hefty I could now feel her backbone and ribs slightly. Apart from that she looked healthy, I thought it may of been worms so I bought a worming tablet from the vets and gave it her.

After a few days I saw no improvement so I took her to the vets yesterday, the vet who is a specialist in lumps in cats could feel two inside her; one fairly big and one small one. As you can imagine I am in shock, you do not expect a young cat to develop cancer when she has never been ill in her life. She is pretty much an indoor cat too, her choice, the doors have been open everyday of her life but she goes no further than a few feet from the door and only for five minutes or so. She is still so kitten like so innocent and this illness comes upon her.

They took her bloods to see if her kidneys an other organs were affected but came back normal so it seems it has not spread anywhere else yet.
They said they could do a scan, xray and biopsy to see what kind of cancer it was which would cost around £800 then if it was operable they could operate but the procedure would be painful an risky and if she survived that and the operation was a "success" there would be no reasureance she would last 6 months best case scenario 2 years. Which would be filed probably with on going chemo treatment and in the end costing a couple of thousand pounds.

Whilst money is not the problem I just feel that I would be putting her through a lot of uncomfortable pain for very little quality and longivity to her life. The vets themselves who are cat owners too said they wouldn't put their cats through it.

So we have decided to help her with steriods until her quality of life deteriorates then have to face the fact of putting her to rest.

I am posting in this forum because I was wondering if any of you have heard of any natural remedies which could help her sustain better health for longer? I appreciate any help thanks for reading.

Hi Sweetheart, so very sorry to hear the sad news about your little cat. I lost a Rottie to Lymphosarcoma last year - so I do know how you feel. I went down the chemo route with Dave - but it wasn't to be and I lost my friend. But one thing I did look into was his diet. Green veg etc, don't know how this stands for cats - I do believe Hills has a cancer diet - ask your vet about the diet or google it.
Remember tho, I know how hard this is for you, your cat doesn't know that she/he is terminally ill. So value each good day you have.
Best wishes your way

Kaz x

Oh Hun so sorry! your poor baby and poor you! sending hugs Angie

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Thanks for the tip I will look into Hills food.

Thank you.

Hi, Carmela,

I am so sorry to hear about this <hug>.

I'm a Reiki master and although I'm new to using it on my cats I have used it with my children when they were babies and toddlers (who don't 'know' that they are being treated any more than animals do) with good results. Some Reiki practitioners specialise in animal treatment and thsi might be worth a look. The second option with Reiki might be to take level 1 yourself - although there is a bit of reading to do the actual energy attunements only take a day. You can also take this by distance learning but I don't know how effective it is - but you could probably arrange for a level 1 attunement in the next few days if you find a sympathetic teacher. Anyway, if you did this then all you'd need to do is sit with Jess on your lap and stroke her whilst allowing the healing enery to flow through you. I learned with Reiki Evolution and I can recommend them, although I have no affiliation to them.

I've also heard good reports of homeopathy but don't have any direct experience of this.

Sending you lots of loving energy. xxx

Thanks for the sugegstion! I have beenn looking into a natural supplement called C-Caps, does anyone have any knowledge of them?

Also it has just dawned on me and I have no one to ask and it may be a silly question but this cancer can not be passed onto my other cats can it?

No, that's IF it is cancer because in actual fact you don't *know* it is!

While cancer isn't unheard of in younger animals it doesn't necessarily follow that all masses are malignant! There are many other causes of lumps ie cysts, abscesses, benign tumours foreign bodies etc. which owing to their obstructive nature can cause similar symptoms.

I realise you don't wish to pursue any aggressive treatment but I would urge you to have an ultrasound-a skilled sonographer can tell whether a mass if malignant or not-which is very non-invasive and painless. This way you will have a better idea of what you're actually dealing with and can plan treatments accordingly!

What has her response to steroids been?

well she has two masses for a start one fairly large and one small so that is why they're pretty sure it is cancer. But how can they tell from an ultrasound if it is cancerous or not?

Has anyone on here had a clear diagnosis from that?
She is fine in herself, actually as picked up a bit, not so down but she is pretty healthy and looks it. She has been sick once or twice but that is it. And she is eating lots.

Having an ultrasound won't give you the definitive diagnosis a biopsy will but it will be a few steps closer in pinning down a more accurate one than you currently have! Since treatment options and prognosis are dependent on the nature of the masses I think it's very important to know what you're dealing with here. I think it's also important to remember vets are not infallible!

By evaluating tissue density a skilled and experienced sonographer can very often tell the difference between various masses. This is beyond the scope of most general vets and requires more specialist skills.

Not sure exactly when your vet found these lumps but has your cat had a recent examination? Of course if she's on steroids the lumps may have shrunk.

where am I going to get a specialist sonographer? Do you know any in the nottingham area?

See, I just have a feeling it will end up with them having to do a biopsy and they have already warned me that if it is cancer they would be very reluctant to wake her back up.

She is healthy at the moment and I don't want to waste the few months she has. sigh. I'm just really stressed