My Ragdoll was diagnosed with advanced squamous cell carcinoma (sinus) - what to expect in the coming weeks (eating, kidney)
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This poor guy has been given a 6-8 week prognosis on 3 different occasions and has beaten the odds every time. This time I fear he will not beat them by much, but he could still surprise.
Over 4 years ago he was diagnosed with stage 1 kidney disease and put on a kidney diet. He never progressed past stage 1 thank goodness. He later was diagnosed with IBD, but the vet did not do a great job in following up and validating the disease. I don't think he ever had that really. For the past 2 year years we've been taking him in for a series of odd symptoms, but with no diagnosis:
Pawing at the left side of face
Loss of all whiskers on the left side of face
Odd dark band around outside of nose that would come and go. (Flat to the touch...vet said it's just some mucus).
Pawing at mouth when eating (vet said teeth looked fine)
Yowling at night (vet said eyesight can weaken when they get older. He was 14 yo.)
Started scratching ears frequently
We took him to a new vet in January who did a dental cleaning and tooth extraction. They had to remove TEN teeth! I was not expecting that. The vet said that the teeth were okay but the bone was damaged. No visible signs of ulcers. In fact doesn't look or act like a 16 year old.
Now coincidentally, during the dental surgery he was burned on his abdomen. It took several weeks and specialized treatments to heal the burns before we could follow up on the dental. During his burn recovery, he continued to paw his mouth, but we had to wait until his burns healed to continue with the other diagnosis. (Don't get too hung up on this point. The vet who did the surgery compensated us for everything, including the surgery and burn treatment.)
Last week we saw the specialty dental vet who did exploratory surgery and couldn't find anything wrong with his teeth. At this point the pawing and scratching was so extreme, that I insisted something must be wrong. The vet recommended an x-ray of the head. There it was...a large facial tumor in his sinus area. The vet advised us that it is not treatable and recommended pain and nerve management.
From the outside, he looks perfectly fine. He's on 35mg of Gabapentin twice daily and he has calmed down. He appears to be starting to lose his eye sight. His eyes are becoming visibly cloudy.
Sorry for the long post. I'm just wondering what to expect over the next 1-3 months.
I'm very sorry you had to go through so much to get the diagnosis. It's hard to know what started first--the tooth problems or the tumor, given how many teeth he lost.
I knew a woman whose cat had this, and the photos I saw were heart wrenching. At some point the tumor will block his nose and/or mouth and affect his ability to breathe, smell, and eat. Keep tabs on your cat's behavior. I'm sure the pressure from the tumor will only get worse and cause more pain. Sadly, there will come a time you need to decide "when."
I'm very sorry. I want to give you a huge thumbs up for your persistence and love for your cat. I wish more people were as dedicated as you are. Please keep us posted.
I'm so very sorry to hear about your kitty! This is the loss of a long-time companion, and I'm sure the process will be very difficult for you and kitty!
We lost a dear cat to the same diagnosis---squamous cell carcinoma = scc of the jaw. I just happened to notice a lump on his jaw, went to the vet, dx==scc.He was along in years, too, about 15 then. We put him through #ell trying to save him. We took him to cancer specialists, including Texas A&M, and Gulf Coast in Houston. We spent $5000 on chemotherapy alone, not to mention other treatments. At the time, my DH was pulling in about 200K, and we had pet insurance, so I took the "dam*ned the torpedoes full steam ahead" stance.
Then, one day, I took a good look at him. He was just a little old bag of bones, obviously suffering......
I was told that SCC is particularly cruel in that it does NOT metastasize. It would eventually destroy the jaw bone structure, but it would not spread into other areas, such as lungs, etc. In other words, the animal would not be released by a cancerous death. Death would occur from secondary causes, such as dehydration, malnutrition, etc. When they wanted to insert a feeding tube to address those issues, I said enough. We were keeping him alive just to suffer.
I'm sorry to be so blunt, but do realize there's no cure for SCC, and treatment just keeps them alive when all quality of life is gone. Making the decision to have the animal PTS is a difficult decision, but part of our responsibility as pet parents. If you wait too long, they won't be able to find a vein, then, your options are particularly grim. Better sooner, while you have more options for a peaceful crossing.
I should have posted this last summer. Rowdy hung in there for another year beyond what the doctors predicted. He had so much fight in him! Eventually, the weakness in his legs and his overall loss of muscle from the tumor overcame him and in April of 2018, it was time. He was one of my favorite pets and I miss him.
Hi. I hope others are still monitoring this thread. My cat Briq is 15 and has nasal cancer. He's always been a snorer--I guess I should have picked up that something was wrong, but I missed the sign. In late April I saw fresh blood in his water dish as he drank out of it -- not a lot, just a bit. I of course took him into the vet the next day. He took x-rays of his chest (clear) and head, which showed some sort of shadow behind the nose. My vet also did a biopsy, which came back as inflammation, but he was pretty convinced that it was cancer, so we went to a specialist at an animal hospital. They were supposed to do a CT scan and take 2 more biopsies from the back of the throat, but Briq's heart stopped during the procedure and they had to administer CPR. 2 weeks later, we changed up the anesthesia meds and tried again. The CT scan showed a definite mass behind his right nostril and into one of his sinus cavities but both biopsies again came back as inflammation. However, both the specialist and my vet were convinced it was cancer masked by the inflammation it had caused. Because we couldn't get a clear diagnosis of what kind of cancer it was and because he has problems with anesthesia, I decided the best option was to allow him to have the best intervention free life he could have while he could have it. Now both nostrils are almost fully blocked and he breathes primarily through his mouth. He no longer cleans himself. He eats and drinks, and tries to sleep. A round of predisolone about starting 11 days ago gave me 5 glorious days with him, but now he is without energy. I don't know if there's anything else I can do for him -- whether increased steroids or anti-inflammatories will make a difference at this point. It's killing me. He is my heart and I can't bear to be without him. I'm considering cyberknife treatment since it only requires 1-3 radiation treatments, but he's had problems with anesthesia, so I don't know if it's worth the risk. I'm torn. If I do nothing I think he has weeks.
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Farewell to Rowdy
