Navigating My Own Cat's Hospice Care

It happens. Life has a way of placing us on the opposite side of where we usually stand. As a veterinarian, I typically offer expertise and advocate for the health and quality of life of other people's pets. I sit by their sides, guiding them through grief, loss, and the pain of tough decisions. I discuss the financial, emotional, and physical 'cost' of care, and offer advanced treatment options, alternative therapies, or palliative care.. Yet here I am, on the other side. I am the client, my cat, Jasmine, is the patient. I lean on my own colleagues because it's hard to objectively navigate the care of your own pet. Emotions are high, decision-making can be biased, now it's my family I need to communicate with, my own kitty that I need to treat.

Jasmine, my nearly 15-year-old beautiful cat, was adopted as a kitten when she was supposed to be euthanized by city animal control due to a cuterebra (fly bot/larva) under her skin. I was able to treat her and take her home and she has had a beautiful life with us. Ironically, after returning from a veterinary hospice and palliative care conference last week, I noticed some changes in Jasmine:

1. Acting more clingy

2. Some drooling and crusting around her neck and mouth

3. Going to the food bowl but not eating

4. Sleeping more

5. I examined her mouth and caught a glimpse of an ulcerated area

A trip to the veterinary clinic with anesthesia allowed for a thorough exam. She has a mass near the base of her tongue that extends back and underneath it. It is ulcerated and infected, I suspected cancer and a biopsy revealed the answer: squamous cell carcinoma, the most common oral cancer in cats.

We have been focusing on palliative care to maintain her comfort, knowing that surgery and other therapies are not viable options due to the tumor's location on her tongue. And she hates the vet clinic, she hates restraint, and she hates being medicated. With all this in mind, a plan to give her topical opioids, oral liquid steroids, and to monitor her quality of life, eating, drinking and weight are the plan. She has been doing very well with pain management, eating well, and acting relatively "normal" again. Cats are masters at hiding pain, so they are typically really painful by the time we start seeing signs of that pain. Small changes in behavior can mean big changes in what they're feeling. Looking back, I did notice she was taking her food out of the bowl and putting it on the ground before eating it. Even with my knowledge and experience, cats continue to surprise me, and Jasmine is no exception!