Bad news about Romeo

We took him to the vet when we returned from Pennsic because the lady running the boarding facility where we left him had noticed blood in his water dish, and thought he might have an abscess in one of his teeth. The vet anesthetized him, and discovered a lesion on his tongue. He suspected it might be a squamous cell carcinoma (aka skin cancer), so he took a sample for a biopsy. It's one of the more common oral cancers in cats. Unfortunately his suspicion proved to be well founded.

When it happens in an exterior location (ears are common), it can sometimes be treated effectively by amputation. That's not really a practical option inside the mouth. Some vets will remove part of the tongue and jaw in an attempt to stop the growth of the disease, but the results seem to be questionable. (<10% one year survival rate). It's just not something I'd consider putting a cat through, and not an option our vet even suggested. (Picture trying to feed Romeo with a tube....). Also it only works if the cancer hasn't spread to the lymph nodes.

At this point all we can do is keep him comfortable. I'm glad we did the biopsy. We know what's going on, and that there's no prospect for recovery, so we'll doubt ourselves less when we start looking at him and thinking its time. Right now he's still eating baby food, and wanting attention, so I think he's reasonably comfortable. We don't really have a prognosis on how long he has - I suspect it will be measured in weeks, not months, but right now he's holding.

He's seventeen, so we're getting into the area where something was going to take him from us. He seems mostly comfortable, and spends a lot of time sleeping on our bed. When he sleeps lately its so deep that he doesn't notice you approaching until you actually touch him. It's been scaring me, but now I think it would be a good thing if he can just drift away peacefully.