old rat and operations? we're going for it-its a no-go

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T

twitch

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
1,485
Location
Dartmouth, NS
violet is now 34 months old, overweight and has three tumors. she is in otherwise great health and i think it will be the tumors that will be the end of her. she has one under her armpit that started out as a fatty deposit but now has little hard lumps, kinda feels like pebbles, that you can feel inside that-that started a few months ago and is realtively slow growing. she also has a largish lump on her side. we thought it was an abscess as it was responding to hot-cold compresses but a FNA determined a tumor, the response to the hot-cold compresses was coincidental. it was fast growing but seems to have plateaued in growth rate. it is however the heaviest of the three tumors. the other one is by her groin and i think is going to be the one to do her in. it is very fast growing, with a very noticiable change in size each week. if it continues to grow at that rate it will only be a 2-3 more weeks before i will have to put her down due to mobilty/quality of life issues and possible pain. the one under her arm and the one are her side i can get my fingers completely around without feeling much of any connective tissue. the one in her groin i can't get my fingers around hardly at all though.

now i know she's quite old and i know being overweight is a danger in any operation as well. so i'm on the fence. i don't know if i should try to have the tumors removed as she is in otherwise perfect health, or if i should just leave them and make the last few weeks extra special somehow. if she doesn't have the operation the tumors are going to impede her movement and might cause her pain shortly now. if she has the operation there is a real chance that she will not make it through it, but if she does survive, there is no way to know how much longer she will have. the stress from the operation may give her a resp infection and that could take her. the cost of the operation is minimal as i do have a vet now that does operations for a fraction of the cost of most other vets and we have quite a bit stashed away in the vet can right now anyway.

so i ask you what your thoughts are on this. she is old, she is fat but otherwise healthy. the tumors are what are going to do her in. she has three of them, cropping up within the last 3/4 months. should we try to remove them or accept that her death is going to be to be soon and just make the most of her time left? should i risk the last few weeks for a long shot on an unknown ammount of time? is this simply a foolish idea considering her age and weight-just a more expensive way for euthanasia? right now the idea is bouncing around in my head but i can't decide one way or the other. i want her to be with us as long as possible of course, but what are her chances of survival of an operation really...?
 
This is really a hard decision. My Vincent went through a huge tumour removal when he was 37 months old. He lived another 2 months after that but to me it was worth seeing him die without the tumour. Also, at the time, I could afford it.
I don't think there is a wrong answer here... you can put her through the surgery and know that you've done all you can for her, or let her go and know that she had a great old age and a beautiful life with you.
 
I agree with Jorats, its really going to be up to you..if you feel she can handle it (and you can afford it), then go for it...if not, let her live out her life happy, fat, and with a few tumors...there is no wrong decision here, she will always know you loved her!!!!
 
i've decided to try. her life now is less then it was with these lumps and a couple more weeks in progressing deteriorating quality is not something i think she would want. in the end she will either survive and have no tumors or she will die and have no tumors. in either case she is free of the tumors. recovery may be an issue but there are things i can do to make that as easy on her as possible. so tomorrow i will be calling the vet and making arrangements. she lets me stay with them the entire time, even watching the operation. so even if she does pass on the table i will be there for her. its going to be a tense time for us here until the operation is over, but having a course of action is somehow a relief. i don't know if i will get much more time with her because of this but i do know that regardless of the outcome she will be free of her tumors, at this point i think that is the most important. wish us luck and please keep violet in your thoughts, any good vibes sent would be very welcomed and greatly appreciated.
 
My Vincent recovered so incredibly well, it took him one day to be fully back to normal. And seeing him live his life without the tumour was so rewarding for both of us.
At the time, my thinking was exactly like yours, either way, they will go without the tumours.

Lots of good vibes and healing wishes for Violet. :flowers2:
 
Please keep us posted Twitch. I think it is wonderful that your vet will allow you to be with her. Not everybody gets that chance. Keep us posted when the surgery is schedule so we can keep fingers and toes crossed. Get healing vibes coming from us here at our household.


Ann
 
violet is still with us and still has her lumps. the lump by her groin is inoperable, and that's the one that if any of them are going to do her in it was going to be that one. but what was more was that nearly as soon as she was gassed down she stopped breathing. we were able to bring her back, but there was no way that the vet was even going to be able to open her up before she would have died on the table. in a couple weeks i will have to take her back to help her cross over and during that time she will have to put up the lumps, but we tried to help her. there's just no way for survival though.

thank you to everyone for your support and kind wishes during all of this. even though we weren't able to go through with the surgery, it has been appreciated. thank you.
 

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