If you know me and Neil, you probably know we have two cats named Arthur and Penny. You probably also know that they are a couple of stellar felines with amazing spirits and we love them as much as we love our human family and friends. Penny is the cat whose photo is at the top of this blog. Yes, she is the cutest thing in the whole world.
On Thursday, we found out that Penny has a cancerous tumor in the soft tissue right above her left hind leg. We are incredibly saddened by this news and are at a bit of a loss for what to do. The vet is looking into treatment options and we are awaiting more information. We don't know much about what the behavior of this tumor is or will be or whether it has spread or is basically contained to the lump itself.
Surgery has been suggested, with a price tag of about $2000 for an aggressive removal (which gives her a greater chance of survival and a lesser chance of recurrence). We don't, however, have $2000 lying around to spend (especially since Neil will be officially underemployed at the end of the month). The vet's office could do a less aggressive removal for about $600, but the chance of recurrence would be significantly greater. Our vet is looking into what a university with a good vet program could do for us (i.e. Purdue).
We don't know if it would be better to let the cancer run its course and deal with easing the suffering as it occurs, or to go after this thing surgically, possibly causing a lot of trauma with the surgery and recovery, etc...since Penny is already a nervous little cat, we're not sure what route would be best for her or for us.
If anyone has any advice on how to proceed (from experience or whatever), or just words of encouragement/support, it would be greatly appreciated.
We are so sad.
1 comment:
Poor Penny! Poor you guys! UGH! and UGH! I don't have any great advice, I'm afraid, but I hope you are hanging in there. I'll call you soon.
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