I thought my poor elderly cat had an abscessed tooth and I just got back from taking him to the vet. Turns out he has a cancerous tumor. He gave me an NSAID to give him for pain, something called meloxidyl. Since we only noticed the swelling in his cheek a few days ago, it means it's a fast growing tumor so we may not have much time left with him at all. He says the tumor will probably not kill him outright based on where it's located, it will just make it too painful to eat and drink... perhaps blind him. That means that with good nursing care he can be happy-ish for a while more.

Man. I knew he was old, I knew something like this was coming but this sucks.

The upside is that finding out your cat has cancer is a lot cheaper than him having an abscessed tooth. So there's that.

I'm so sorry!!! Your cat has had a long and happy life and it sucks that it has to end this way, but I know he'll be well taken care of and that you'll do right by him.

Oh I'm so sorry Cloudy. My cat Shelby is the love of my life so I can definitely feel for you. I hope nothing else bad happens and he is as comfortable as he can be.

Thanks all.

Ugh, looking up oral squamous cell carcinoma is both comforting and awful. Comforting in that it is as fast growing as I thought (because I was all like, did I just NOT notice it somehow??) and even if it was caught early, there's really not much you can do about it. So this was one of those crappy things that just happen.

I'm not looking forward to assessing him throughout every day to decide if I'm prolonging his suffering. My kiddo is pretty upset about it too, that sucks as well. It's a blessing though (said the atheist) that we will hopefully get the opportunity to say our goodbyes and send him off peacefully.

There is a vet in town that will come to your house to put your pet to sleep so you don't have to take them into the dreaded vet's office for it. I'm going to call her office tomorrow to find out how it all works.

Random stuff: I've had Syrus for longer than I've known my husband. My kiddo spent a good portion of his toddlerhood using Syrus as an unwilling body pillow and god bless him, he just accepted it. I once almost adopted a half grown pit bull puppy but realized it wasn't going to work out when it was immediately obvious that he wanted to eat Syrus. Syrus, being the dummy he is, actually tried to duke it out with this pit bull who was raised on the streets. Once, in his much younger days, he managed to sort of catch a bird (I think something was wrong with it, this cat is no hunter) and as soon as he put his mouth on the bird, he recoiled from it and was upset and disgusted by the feathers or whatever. Funny stuff.

cry.

I am so sorry to hear about your kitty. I hope his journey is swift and painless. He sounds very sweet. Hugs to you and the kitty...

Big hugs from me and the boys.

Im so sorry.

On, that's sad. I am sorry. I've been through something similar. My cat Oola was diagnosed with cancer, that made her face swell up. I think the vet said in the jaw, but it's almost ten years ago now. We went through the illness for a few months. On a vet visit for follow-up, the vet didn't think there was anything immediately alarming. I took her home, and she died about 45 minutes later. It was shocking. It hit me very hard. Oola seemed to be an advanced soul.

I have had cats most of my adult life. I have two sweetheart tuxedo cats right now. They are about 8 or 9 years old. I love them so much.

Thanks all, it means a lot.

Well shoot. I was working all day so I wasn't able to make the catfood soup (recipe: mix wet catfood with water. Serve.) until I got home because otherwise, my dang dog would eat it and then crap all over the house (SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME!) So far, I haven't gotten him to eat an entire can of food and I'm talking the little size can. I gave him his second dose of pain medicine but he's still just hanging out in the bathroom except to eat a bit and use the litter box.

It seems like the standard on quality of life for a cat is if they're eating and drinking or not. Well he is but he won't leave the bathroom. He also still purrs when he's being petted but if you bring him out of the bathroom, he'll walk away from you to go back in there to lie down. Also, I don't think he's actually eating all that much. It doesn't help that frickin' D-Dog keeps eating his food on the downlow so I can't tell exactly how much he's eaten. He just seems to be going downhill so much faster than I was expecting but I can't tell if he really is or if it's just me being hyper-aware of it all.

This blows. I've done end of life care many times. I knew that he was old and that this was coming but I am just thrown by how much this sucks. It's like giving me PTSD type flashbacks from when my grandma was dying in the hospital.

I feel sorta silly because it's all this drama about my cat but I can't help it. A) I'm all about drama (whether I like it or not) and B) he's been my cat for a long, long time.

So I'm drinking wine. Lots of wine.

It's really really hard to lose a pet that's meant a lot to you. They are as much a part of the family as the human members and they have a big place in our hearts. It does sound like he's still happy, and if the bathroom is his favorite place now then that's a good place for him to be.