When my 11 year old Siamese cat, Sebastian died of cancer last month I promised myself I would share his story when I was ready in hopes of helping others. I had a very difficult time finding information about his type of cancer in my research and I’m hoping his story may help others through this difficult diagnosis.
It all started with a cough, looking back. For about 9 months prior to the vet visit that would change everything, Sebastian had a cough that was infrequent. I heard it maybe once or twice a month at most. It was not a typical “hairball” sounding cough, but rather more of a chesty cough. I tried to look up information on what it could be online and I read that Siamese are prone to asthma and that the treatments available were usually expensive and not very effective. There were special breathing masks that could be tried if your cat would tolerate it. I thought surely this is what was going on and I decided not to see the vet unless it got worse. It never did. I may never truly forgive myself for this, but I hope my sharing this first important symptom may help others. A few months later, I did take Sebastian to the emergency vet after hours clinic for some weird swelling above his eye. I am not sure if it had any relation to the cancer he would later be diagnosed with, but at that time I mentioned the cough to the vet. The vet listened to his lungs and had no concerns about it. The eye swelling went away on its own the next day.
Fast forward several months. I noticed that Sebastian was losing a little weight. Being Siamese, he was already long, and lanky and he had never been overweight. So even small weightloss was noticeable. I also noticed he was walking a little differently than normal. It wasn’t really a limp but more of a shorter stride in his back leg. I made him a vet appointment which was about a week out. About 2 days later I felt a lump on his left knee. I called the vet and bumped up his appointment.
At the vet appointment, the vet aspirated the lump and said he couldn’t really tell what it was. He said something about big cells and small cells… He decided to do an x ray where we found 2 tumors; there was a very large tumor hidden is his right groin area and the smaller one on his left knee. The vet ordered blood work and implied that he suspected feline leukemia. The bloodwork came back the next day and it was negative for feline leukemia and since everything else looked good with the bloodwork (kidney and liver function I assume), we scheduled a biopsy for a week later.
The biopsy results took about a week. The vet called me at work and told me Sebastian had adenocarcinoma. He told me he would refer me to a veterinary oncologist but most likely we’d be looking at palliative care. I was devastated and yet not surprised. I knew in my gut Sebastian had cancer from the moment I had found the lump. The vet gave him a pain injection, appetite stimulant, and a high calorie rx food. We got in with the specialist a week later. By this time, Sebastian also developed a smaller tumor on the back of his neck. The specialist told us that if we did nothing, Sebastian might only live a few more weeks but with treatment she estimated he could live maybe 4-6 months. Although this news was pretty bleak, my husband and I decided to do everything we could for Sebastian. The specialist recommended a special IV treatment to be done that day which would take around 4 hours. The treatment was supposed to help remove calcium from his blood- a side effect of the tumor eating away the bone. The IV treatment ended up taking 6 hours. She also put him on chemo pills, appetite stimulant, and pain medicine.
We started Sebastian on the chemo pills that night. Over the next week, I was pleased to see that the chemo did not cause him to hide all day, throw up, or have any other significant side effects. But the tumors continued to grow to the point that he could barely walk. He continued to lose weight as well. We called the vet and explained that Sebastian was having accidents because it hurt him too much to step into the litter box. The vet prescribed Buprenorphine, a much stronger pain medicine. Sebastian would often purr in the middle of the night. I took it as a good sign until I looked it up and found purring can be a sign your cat is in a lot of pain. My husband and I committed to a month of chemo to see if he would start to improve. After 3 weeks on chemo, Sebastian had a follow up visit with the regular vet for bloodwork to make sure that the chemo was not causing his body to shut down. The bloodwork came back and everything looked remarkably good. However, Sebastian was skin and bones and we waited on him hand and foot because he could hardly walk. The vet recommended we think about letting him go. This was only 3 weeks after starting chemo.
We made the decision to euthanize Sebastian at home and I can’t recommend doing that enough. We knew the day was coming but never expected everything to happen so fast. At the end, Sebastian had small tumors all over his body and one that started to bleed. The specialist thinks the cancer started in his salivary gland before metastasized to his muscles and bones. We spent just over $2,000 in a month and a half and in his case, I don’t think any of it helped. I wished I could find someone with a similar story at the time so that we knew what the outcome was for them. It’s not that he wasn’t worth it, but having to shove pills down his throat and watch him waste away was the worst experience.
After going through this whole ordeal, here is my honest advice:
If your vet suspects cancer, get the biopsy done. There are many different types of cancers and some are very treatable with a high rate of success.
If your cat won’t eat, ask for appetite stimulants, high calorie food, and if all else fails try feeding turkey or chicken stage 1 baby food (for humans)- it was the only thing Sebastian would eat in the last few days.
Don’t amputate a limb to prevent cancer spreading until they have x-rayed the entire body to make sure the cancer isn’t already in the lungs or anywhere else.
If your vet doesn’t recommend a veterinary oncologist, find one yourself. They will have the best treatment options available and the most up to date knowledge.
Assess the quality of life often. Try not to hang on too long. If your cat can no longer do any of the things they once enjoyed, have the strength to end their suffering.
Share your story and keep their memory alive.
When you’re ready, give another pet a home.
Thank you for reading and I hope this helps someone out there.
kaceylm719 