We just learned that our black cat, "Shadow", has cancer. It's chondrosarcoma, a kind of cartilage/bone cancer and is untreatable. The veterinarian rescued him about 2 1/2 years ago when the owner brought him in to be put to sleep because he kept getting kidney infections. The vet knew we were looking for a cat and called us.

Shadow has become part of the family and even accompanies us and the dog, a big labrador, on walks. He communicates very well with about a dozen different meows that all mean something. He's affectionate and loves to spend quality time with us.

Right now, he has a big tumor on his hip and is limping. He doesn't eat much and sleeps a lot (more than usual). We'll keep him comfortable as long as we can-until it's obvious he's in too much pain.

I sure will miss the little guy.

Here's an interesting tidbit that I found in my travels - the leading cause of cancer death in dogs is melanoma.

RileyMc,

When my Skippy stopped eating because of the cancer, he was running a high fever. He says, 'if a cat can't smell, it won't eat'. The vet gave him a megadose of antibiotics and steroids and a dose of hydration under the skin. When this cat got home, he leap up the staircase to get his dinner aand couldn't wait to get out. Hydration was given for two more days. Vet says sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. This got us about 6 weeks. The next time the treatment didn't work. Obviuously not a cure, but gave us humans time to say goodbye and Skippy a little more time on this earth feeling normal. I asked hubby what exactly the vet gave Skippy, but he doesn't remember. He seems to have blocked out everything that happended after the ultrasound and diagnosis of no chemo.

My Skippy was a special guy also who was extremely intelligent and I swear spoke English. We 'talked' all the time and he too had a whole set of vocal requests and mannerisims to tell us what he wanted. I know how hard this is going to be for you. Give him some love from me. email me if you want more support. This is really tough.

Take care,
Eileen

One of my cats and another dog I had both died of cancer. It's scary that it's so common among pets, but I wonder how much of it is that, like us, their lifespans have been expanded quite a bit compared to what it would be in the wild thanks to the care we give them and this allows cancer to become a leading cause of death. of course if it is becoming more common in recent years, that's less likely to be an explanation. I'm loving all these pet stories!

Nelie