This time last year I went on vacation for a week when my favourite cat, the best cat I've ever had the experience of knowing, was fighting cancer in her nasal cavity.
The cancer was slow to progress so we had a bit more time with her, but it was a horrible year of taking care of her and seeing her suffer and recover.
The trip was really good (I proposed) but it was difficult to be away as I thought about her nonstop and verbalized it, then felt guilty that I was being a downer on our trip. I just felt bad that I was not utilizing all the time I could spend with her, understanding more than ever that it is finite.
We came back, she was still the same, and I spent as much time as I could with her until we ultimately euthanised her in May. The hardest day of my life, sometimes I regret being there with her as we said goodbye because the ritual of her euthanization haunts my memories.
I spend a TON of time with our cats as I'm self employed and only work 3 hours a day, but it never feels like enough. I feel like my life revolves around the cats now, especially when they are sick.
This December my favourite cat, the one I've had since he was a kitten, was diagnosed with SSC in his jaw and gums. CT scan confirmed he had no tumours but a lesion on his gums - we caught it very early by coincidence.
I had a portion of his jaw removed in January in attempt to fight it and buy us more time. The doctor said following the biopsy of the bone removed there are still microscopic cancer particles in the remaining part of his jaw. It's very much a 'wait and see' situation however research papers on this cancer note that it is very aggressive and the usual survival times even after jaw removal is 3-12 months with a median of 5 months.
He's doing really well now.
We have to sit with him while he eats and he takes forever, but has a good appetite, doesn't appear to have any pain in his mouth, he actually sleeps a ton now as it felt like he never slept before as compared to our 3 other cats -- but I am still wanting to spend as much time as possible with him until I ultimately have to relive the horror of putting him down.
It really sucks, hes 13 and in incredible physical health other than this cancer (caused by improper dental work, that's another story)
We have a vacation booked early March for a week. My fiance and I booked it way before we ever knew about his cancer.
While he appears to be doing well, I feel very conflicted about going on vacation when he has a limited time left.
On one hand, I spend somewhere between 3-10 hours at home usually socializing, hanging out and cuddling with all of the cats and especially him, giving him special attention, etc... so it SHOULD be OK to go on vacation for a week... (My mom will be staying over and be with them, although she's not really a big cat person)
But on the other hand I feel like I need to honor the impact he has had in my life and not go anywhere until I ultimately have to euthanize him. He's a special cat and I struggle with this sense of deserting him, perhaps out of my own feeling of being deserted in my life and the worry that my obsessive compulsive brain won't allow me to even enjoy the vacation
I also worry that his condition gets worse while I'm away--
or that when we get back his condition gets worse and we only have a week or two left with him, and I regret not being there for the week I could have spent with him.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/f1mkfu/going_on_vacation_while_my_cat_has_cancer/
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