Hello, I'm new here. My cat Tiger was just diagnosed with a vaccine-induced fibrosarcoma that's inoperable and un-treatable (other than radiation that will cost $4-6,000 which I can't afford). He will be 10 next month and he has diabetes and kidney disease. These latter conditions are well maintained and his blood sugar and renal levels are steady. I found the hard lump on his shoulder about a month ago. I made an appointment with the vet for the following week and by the time his appt. time came, the lump had doubled. The vet said he thought it was a sarcoma but did a needle aspiration test. It took several days and the results came back inconclusive. That cost $200 to find out nothing. He couldn't get me in for another week. He said he would remove the lump and send out the mass for a biopsy at the same time. By the time I brought him back in the lump had double again. The vet said he was up all night thinking about Tiger and that he couldn't do the surgery ... he said it would be too invasive and would probably kill him. He said he would have to amputate his leg and remove part of his chest cavity and could possibly paralyze him due to the tumor's proximity to the spine. He said he wanted to biopsy first to see if it was by chance it was something else that was more treatable. The biopsy cost as much as the surgery would have cost. Several days passed (while the lump grew) and yep, it's a sarcoma and it's non treatable. So I'm out all of this money that I couldn't afford any way and I don't know if I have any options left.

Right now he's alert and other than favoring his non-tumor side when he sits and lays down, appears healthy and happy. The vet said he couldn't give me a time frame as to when it would start to really impact his quality of life. He said it's localized and probably won't spread but it will continue to grow. What I'm wondering is if anyone has dealt with an extremely advanced and aggressive sarcoma and had a positive outcome? I'm also wondering for those who have had a cat with this prognosis to help me understand what to expect. What were the stages and did your pet pass away on his own or did you have to put him to sleep? I just want to know what to expect.

Thank you.