# Pippin cat - lymphoma



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Pippin had a fine needle aspiration of a swollen lymph node in his neck on Monday - the vet has just phoned with the results, and as we strongly suspected it looks as if Pippin has a tumour in the nasal cavity, and the lymphoma has already spread into the lymph node. We could do more investigations to confirm it and stage it - x-rays and biopsy, both requiring a general anaesthetic - but as the treatment options would be far too invasive for the vet to recommend or me to contemplate we have agreed palliative care with meloxicam and antibiotics. His vet thinks he may be OK for some time, but I am already aware that he is slowing down even further. 

I am sad of course, but he is 18 years old and has had increasingly severe arthritis for the last 10 years, and I have been aware of his life becoming smaller and less rewarding over the last months. While he is eating reasonably well and not in pain, we will take each day as it comes. One more summer, or at least a few more weeks of lazing in the sun…


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## Dianaleez (Dec 14, 2019)

I am so sorry. He sounds like such a fine cat.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

fjm I am sorry to see your sad news, but think you and your vet are being very sensible and generous with the plan to palliate rather than to aggressively treat. I wish you nice quiet days ahead and hope pippin will be able to make decision day clear and peaceful.


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Aww. I lost my last cat to intestinal lymphoma. He hung in there for a surprisingly long time, though he became skinnier and skinnier due to the cancer reducing his inability to absorb nutrients. I really should have let him go sooner, but he was just such a sweet tempered excellent cat.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

I'm sorry to hear this, fjm. Best wishes to Mr. Pippin-cat.


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## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

Sad to hear the news. Remember all the good years you've had together. Hopefully when the time comes, you will both be at peace. Your love will last forever. Sending my love.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I’m sorry to read this, so sad…… but I’m glad you’re avoiding unnecessary invasive work and heading straight to palliative care. The best gift you can give Pippin. 



cowpony said:


> Aww. I lost my last cat to intestinal lymphoma. He hung in there for a surprisingly long time, though he became skinnier and skinnier due to the cancer reducing his inability to absorb nutrients. I really should have let him go sooner, but he was just such a sweet tempered excellent cat.


 I felt the same way about my boy who had lymphoma, I kept hoping for one more miracle but that last trip to the vet had none and I regret not putting him to sleep earlier and at home.

We love our pets and wish they could live in good health with us forever.


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## Newport (Jul 16, 2014)

Sad news, fjm, I'm sorry. I think your plan for him is filled with kindness and love, just like you've always given him.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

I'm sorry fjm


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## a2girl (Oct 4, 2020)

I'm so sorry---I hope there will still be some comfortable days ahead for Pippin. It is never easy to say goodbye, especially after a long companionship. My thoughts are with you.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Enjoying some more sunbeams together sounds perfect. Sending hugs.


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

I'm so sorry to hear this. (Hugs) Your decision is a very kind and loving one.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

I'm sorry, friend. Sending you lots of love and hugs from here.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Pippin, you are very much loved. Fjm, I'm sorry to hear this.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I was talking to a neighbour about Pippin yesterday, watching him sprawled in dappled shade in our shared courtyard, and she said what a perfect life he has had. It is true. There have been some bad moments - he was hit by a car when he was young and nearly died, and for a while a neighbours' Bengal cat beat him up whenever they met, but mostly he has had acres of grounds and fields and woods to roam in, warm places to doze in, and plenty of food and love. We want them to live as long as we do of course, but 18 mostly happy years is a good score for any cat. I am trying to focus on that...


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

Sorry to hear, 18 years of a good life and hopefully the time he has been given will indeed be as blessed. It is exactly what I would do too. virtual hugs.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

hugz fjm,
Pippin cat is an elder statesman, it's a shame they can't live forever


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

Sad news for Pippin, your intrepid hunter that brought his kill to your bed. 18 years is astounding and you are so right to hang onto that. Wishing him plenty of dappled sunshine naps as he moves on. Hugs from Houston!


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Over the last week or two Pippin has been getting rapidly worse - barely eating except for chicken liver, which gives him diarrhoea, increasingly uncomfortable, and with that look in his eyes that is both inward and far away. This morning he chose to go back to his private place rather than settle on my lap as he usually would, and I knew the time has come. We have the last appointment of the day this afternoon, and I will be with him. I am tearful, but both my head and my heart know the time is right - any more time would be for me, not for him.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

I'm so sad to hear this, yet glad to know he's been in the best hands, yours, and that you and he have added so much to each others lives. 

Pippin will forever be in days of sunshine.


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## Getting ready (May 4, 2019)

Sending you, pippin, and her pals love and support from afar.


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

I'm so sad for you all.


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## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

It never gets easier, I’m so sorry. Eighteen years is a good long life for a cat. (((hugs)))


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Oh I am so so sorry for you, fjm. Poor cat.


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

fjm,
I am so very sorry. Virtual hugs being sent.


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## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

What a heart wrenching decision to have to make. I’m sorry for Pippin’s quick decline. You will be in my thoughts today.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

I am so sorry. I’m sending love across the pond. If you need me, you have my phone number and can call.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Thank you everyone. 

It was very quick, very peaceful, very easy on him, and made me wish more than ever that we could offer the same kindness to humans when necessary. The vet took him away briefly to examine and insert a long line catheter, and was obviously rather shocked at how quickly he had gone down over the last few weeks. I held Pip on my lap and murmured to him, the vet injected the drug into the line and within seconds Pippin collapsed asleep in my arms and his heart stopped. “As virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go…”

There is a feeling of full circle. It was kitten Pippin I wept into when I got the phone call from my mother that she had terminal cancer, almost exactly 18 years ago, and we have been through a lot together since. I shall miss his greetings when I drive up to the house, and his heavy weight on my lap morning and evening. I’ll even miss him tromping over my head at 5am in the hope of breakfast. I am sad, but he has had a long and happy life and was helped to slip away before his illness became unbearable. Heaven send all of us the same good life and easy death.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Oh @fjm  Just seeing this now.

I’m hoping you still feel echoes of Pippin’s comforting weight on you in the coming days, to ease you into life without him. Maybe even at 5am so you can have a grumble and a laugh.

It sounds like you gave him the send-off he deserved. Hugs to you, my distant friend.


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

I'm so sad for you all right now. (Hugs) I'm happy that he lived a long life and that he had you as his caretaker. I'm here if you need someone to talk to.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

Sorry to hear about Pippin, fjm. I hope you, Tilly-cat, Sophy and Poppy are adjusting well.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Thank you Liz. I was very sad at first - so many years, so much to remember. But he had the best life I could give him, and I knew the time was right to say good bye, neither a day too soon nor a day too late, so no regrets. The other animals seem hardly to have noticed, although Tilly was more demanding of company at first. She spent a lot of time watching over him outside in the final weeks, and I think animals often know when the end is coming - they must be aware of all the changes in behaviour and scent.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

My heart goes out to you, fjm. It's always so hard, but you will have wonderful memories of Pippin. Blessed be.


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