i adopted a 3lb starving stray in October 2009. We took her to the sliding scale clinic here (FACE) to be cleared to bring in the house. We thought she was about 6 months (judging by size) but it turns out she is at least 3 yrs, just petite, and has had kittens.She had "some jaundice". She was neg for feline leukemia, etc, and we left her to be spayed. However, when her presurgical blood work came in, her bilirubin and another item were "off the charts", we were told she likely had pancreatic or liver cancer. (although skeletally thin, she had a hard distended abdomen so we thought she was preggers.) They observed her all day, and stated that with her lab results, they expected her to be vomiting and have diarrhea and be completely listless. and were very surprised that she ate all day long and wasnt acting sick. But that the anesthesia would like kill her, so she could not have surgery.
They recomended an ultrasound to further the diagnosis, but that is beyond our reach financially. if she cant withstand the anesthesia to be spayed, how could she withstand it for a cancer surgery? Am I missing something here? My husband wont let me charge $600 at 28% for ultrasound if there is no chance of change in the outcome, and if she cant have anesthesia for surgery...this is a true dilemma,
BTW, Mini is doing well, upto 6 lbs now, no diarrhea/vomiting, starting to play and show some pep. her gums are less yellow and her belly is not so hard as it was in Nov.the only things NOT improving are her scruffy coat and disposition. We had resigned ourselves to just making the remainder of her life comfortable (i know pancreatic cancer is very quick in people) but now i am wondering if that is the right course either.. Since she cant have surgery yet seems to be improving, are there any other therapies she might be able to withstand?