I’ve had my cat Jellyfish for almost 9 years. I got him when he was a kitten. Recently within the past week he has not been acting much like himself. He started hiding in my house which he never does. Normally the minute he hears any door open he sprints towards it. He has also been extremely lethargic, he is normally super playful. I have 2 other cats and they’re always playing except lately. He will normally wait in the window for me to come inside when he hears my car. His eyes have been weepy, his hair greasy and he appears to have lost weight too.

Today I took him to the vet. Overall it was an awful experience. I had to wait 2 hours for him to be seen. The entire drive there and wait he was screaming and anxious. I couldn’t go inside with him when they finally did call due to covid, everything had to be done over the phone.

Finally the vet called me and told me he is very jaundiced and that they immediately needed to run labs and do an x-ray. She said normally they wouldn’t do it so close to closing but it was very urgent. The vet said it could be diabetes, renal failure, a thyroid problem, FIV, leukemia or a tumor, the tests would take about an hour and she would call me back.

She called me back finally after an hour of me very anxiously waiting in my car alone and told me his labs were all normal except an elevated bilirubin. She also said they found a tumor by his liver and that the tumor is pushing some of his intestines out of the way. She immediately told me euthanasia would be best. I decided I’d take him home and do home euthanasia however I can’t stop thinking about getting a second opinion. I don’t want to kill my cat. I don’t want him to be in pain and be suffering though. Part of me can’t stop thinking what if this tumor could just be removed by surgery? What if this cancer is curable? I’m sure I’m just being selfish but if a surgery could fix him I would willingly pay for it immediately.

I have had to euthanize pets before but my dog had very bad epilepsy and couldn’t stop seizing and my other cat was very old and suffering. I really don’t know what to do. This was all out of no where. I took him home and gave him some of his favorite treats and he didn’t eat all of them. I have him sleeping in my bed right now which I normally don’t since I’m allergic to him. I love him so much and I don’t want to lose him. He’s my best friend and he has been there for me through everything. I also can’t stop thinking about my other cats not understanding why he isn’t with them in the case I do go with the euthanasia. I’m completely destroyed and I can’t stop crying.