Well, it's been quite a year. A little before Thanksgiving in 2015 our (then 16 years old, now 17) cat suddenly started hiding in a back corner of our apartment, stopped moving around much, and seemed to be limping. The vet spotted the tumor as soon as she came over to do a housecall. We went back and forth on whether or not to have the right front leg amputated, but ultimately decided to do it. You can see some of what we were thinking then in my first Tripawds post: http://tripawds.....r-old-cat/

We took him to an emergency vet service, where they did the amputation. They weren't sure they were able to get all of the tumor with the amputation, and they also noted a lump under his tongue that MIGHT be a fast-moving mouth cancer. However, our old cat got very, very stressed out at all the vet visits, and we chose not to pursue further treatment. It took a little while, but his movement came back and he seemed much happier.  I posted several updates in threads about his progress:

http://tripawds.....mputation/

He did have some strange scabbing and a mysterious belly wound. I posted about those, too, but they passed. His fur grew back and we enjoyed time with him. 

http://tripawds.....sion-site/

http://tripawds.....ous-wound/

The thing that never fully recovered was/were his litterbox habits. I don't think this was related to the tumor, but as he recovered from the surgery his inappropriate peeing stayed pretty consistent. It was sort of two steps forward, one step back. Every time we thought he was making progress he'd slip back. We found a routine where we had to keep pee pads down on the floor near the litterbox and hope for the best. It was pretty stressful. It seemed like he just couldn't "hold it" or perhaps couldn't sense when he had to pee. 

http://tripawds.....rbox-woes/

Things continued to degrade on the "elimination location" front, and the vet checked him out a couple of times when there was blood in his urine. He does have kidney disease, she told us. She thought he might also have some arthritis, which might make it less comfortable to squat to pee. A few months ago, we moved his litterbox to a spot about a foot away from his bed (we'd tried that before but with no good results) and this time it sort of worked. He did use it more often. But then he started peeing in his bed, sometimes. We had to wash it often, and with no laundry facilities in our building (or close to our apartment) this was too bad. But more than feeling sorry for ourselves, we felt sad his age was showing. 

The last few months, Progo mostly slept in his bed and got up to eat and drink and (sometimes) to pee. We cleaned up after him a lot. He did a lot of "midnight yowling" -- mostly about hunger, we think, but maybe loneliness. The vet said he was losing weight and to feed him as much as he would eat. He did throw up less on the wet diet, so that was good. She gave us Buprenex for pain and said we could give it to him 3x a day. She recommended subcutaneous fluids 2x a week, and we tried that but didn't see much difference in his behavior. I had a feeling the end was coming. The vet also mentioned the lump under his tongue had gotten bigger -- but it is mysterious, as it can't be a fast-moving cancer if it's been there for a year or more!

A few days ago, he moved back to a corner of our apartment -- I realize it is the same one he slept in when his tumor was getting very bad. He isn't really grooming himself anymore. I've been trying to use pet wipes on him, but the fur around his mouth stays sort of stained. His peeing has been even less in the litterbox and more on the pee pads, though he does keep eating and drinking and peeing. He's pooping less. And today I gave him a treat he really likes. They're crunchy...and they made his mouth bleed. That's a first. And I think a bad sign. 

So I'm going to call the vet and see what she thinks, but I think he's reaching the end of his long life. He's 17 years old. Our 5 1/2 year old is going to be heartbroken, and frankly I am a little, too, though with a deeper understanding of the inevitability of death for every living thing. I don't know how to make the choice. I don't know how to say "it's time." Everyone says "you'll know." I don't know.

I guess I'm posting here to tell the whole saga -- and to say I'm glad we chose amputation. I'm glad we had a year with him, even if I cleaned up more pee than I wanted to. He was worth the time and expense and I do think he had a pretty good year. I love this cat, just as the rest of you love your dogs and cats, and I wanted to tell our story even close to the end. Maybe it will mean something to someone going down a similar road.