We have a 15 1/2 year old cat for 6 years now. He lived for 9 years on a counter at a pet store. The owner had to find someone to adopt him and other cats in the store as a customer complained to a distributor about buying things with hair. Yep, believe it or not, a distributor for major items was going to stop supplying.

Anyhow, he has been great all along. Large cat at 13lbs. Lately though, he looks as if he might have loss weight. I could see the spine down the back when I went to brush him. Of course though, you have a hard time to tell since you see your pet all the time.

On Thursday, I noticed his sides were really puffed out. I felt them and they were real hard. Took him to the vet and they had to drain fluid. He weighed 12.5, and after draining him he was now under 11 lbs. The Dr. thought he was going to have some type of tumor in his stomach/instestine area. After being drained of the fluid, he still couldn't feel anything, but there was a tad bit of fluid left. A thyroid test was ordered and will be due in Monday. The Dr. said that we would have to have HAP come in and get an ultrasound if the thyroid is fine. HAP was also given a tapeworm pill to be safe.

Now, HAP is not feeling too well you can tell. Not really running around like normal. Eyes seems a tad sunken in since he normally looks like a neat lion when you see him as he is an orange tabby. I'm not finding him doing tons of bowel movements which he was always good to clean himself out a couple of times a day. Urine is not heavy either. However, he is eating and drinking. Not the best in the world since he isn't feeling himself, but pretty good.

Any input would be wonderful. Anything else that I should bring up at the Vet? Does anything like this sound familiar to stomach/intestine tumors? Anything I should look for, etc.? Thanks so much for your help.

The thyroid came back to be Ok. Now the Dr. is saying that our cat would have probably have some tumors as mentioned in the beginning. He said to get an ultrasound, but if there is something wrong inside of the liver, this wouldn't show up as well with the ultrasound. This is where exploratory surgery would be needed. But then we may want to think twice about putting our 15 year old cat under for this surgery to take place. There is a lot of what ifs at this point as we seem to be having to go to the next step each time. We are now pass the blood work for the thryoid which is fine. I guess we will see what happens with ultrasound and if nothing shows up, I really don't know what to do then for the idea of the surgery.

Thanks so much for the reply. You are so right that it all comes down to the quality of life when it comes to your pet. This is where I'm all worried that I'm doing what is right for HAP. I also though, don't want to give up on him too early.

HAP had the ultrasound on Tuesday. It turns it that he looks fine. The only thing that could be a problem, would be the bladder at the one end (opposite end of the butt) was a litte large, but that is about it. Liver looked great and that was with a pretty good view. Kidneys were a different size, but this could also have been something that he has had for years or from birth even. (This was only a little bit for being different.) The Dr. tried to look at his intestines and this is where it was hard on the ultrasound. He has some fluid again and also some gas, and every time he pushed down to get an image, you would see white streaks on the monitor.

So now, we are going to go ahead with exploratory surgery to give HAP a chance. Without knowing what is even wrong, I can't just say to put him down because he his filling up with fluid. If the bladder is a problem, the Dr. said he can fix that. The only thing left to really see were the intestines and they can be operated on by cutting a section out. (HAP also had a chest X-ray which this showed him to be in great shape, so we know that no cancer has spread up through this way if this was what he had.

HAP had a growth removed off of his head about 1 1/2 years ago and he handled being under back then. Plus, he was under several times for dental surgery as the pet store owner use to take him in for that. I at least feel comfortable with this part.

I will let you know how he makes out!

Poor HAP didn't make it. Surgery showed that he had tumors in the intestines, also some starting in the liver + elsewhere. Cancer was throughout. We had to say good bye to one of the best cats you could find out there. Just too sad.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear that. I know how much it hurts. Remember you're not alone.