Slick, as you know I've also been through this with my beloved Sunny. I was the one that found the lump in his lower jaw. I had asked my vet about using pred but she said it wouldn't work in his case but I could try a different drug that would them probably cause kidney disease. I didn't want to go through this with him so I never tried it. My vet estimated that he had about 3 months left. I had to say goodbye to him a bit sooner because he was having problems eating or he'd throw up his food shortly after eating. He was losing weight and he was also showing signs of being in pain. I did give him some pain medicine but this made him very sleepy and not want to eat at all. Usually you can also tell by a cats eyes when it's time to let them go. I hope that Merlin will be able to be with you for a while longer. If you ever need to talk I'm only a pm away. Please take care. (((HUGS)))