our cat lilo was diagnosed with cancer today
my mom scheduled an appointment for her and took her to the vet because she had a severely swollen jaw. we first noticed it on friday, and it’s just been getting worse. she looks a bit like tigger now
we thought she might’ve needed a few teeth pulled- she is old, and it’s not too uncommon for cats to get an abscessed tooth, you know? i helped mom pack her up in her little cat carrier and told her that i knew she hated going to the vet but that we were going to get the problem tooth pulled and taken care of so that she’d be okay. i seriously thought that’s all it was.
but my mom just got home from the vet and gave us the news. lilo has cancer. they arent sure what type yet, we’ll find out when the lab results get back in five days- but whatever it is, it’s progressing really fast. they couldn’t even operate on her to remove the tumor if they wanted to because she doesn’t have a jaw anymore. like, the bone is gone. completely dissolved. all that’s there is the tumor now.
they gave us some steroid pills to give her to hopefully slow the swelling down, but other than that there’s not much they can do for her. the only thing that’s really going to change when we find out what type of cancer she has is that her medication might change slightly.
she’s about 16 years old, and she’s always been kind of sickly.... her brother stitch died years ago, when they were about two or three, also of cancer. but she’s been such a fighter all these years. it really felt like she’d always be with us
but after seeing how fast her jaw changed and now finding out that the sudden swelling was caused by cancer, i just...i dont think she’s going to be around much longer. if it keeps progressing at the rate it has been i’d be surprised if we even got another few months with her. the only solace i can find in the situation is that the vet has assured us that she’s not in any pain and should still be able to eat and drink normally, but. im just really, really sad