On Sun, 6 Oct 2013 12:39:11 -0400, T
wrote:

In article , weg9
says...

KLopez wrote:
Does anyone have experience with low white blood cell counts and
chemotherapy?
Did WBC fall then rise?
Do you think chemotherapy was worth it (health and happiness of the
cat, financial and emotional for you)?

I have been thinking about these questions for a while now, and I have my
answer ready at this time. No. I do not think chemotherapy is a good idea
for a cat or other pet. It's not that I don't love them and want them to
stay with me forever, because aAI do and I hate it when one of my friends
die. But there is a big difference between a pet and a person. A person
knows why he feels sick and is willing to put up with it because he realizes
and expects the reward that he will get in the form of future life. A cat
doesn't know this. He only knows that he is sick and thinks that you, who
are bringing him to the place that is making him sick, are doing so because
he has displeased you in some way and you must be punishing him. Because of
this, I believe that you are giving him the chemotherapy for you and not for
him. He would be happier and better off if you just put him down and left
him alone. In fact, I have known people who made this decision for
themselves, and they knew that they might live a few months longer because
of the chemotherapy. To impose this on a cat, just so you can be with him a
few more months is, to me, cruel. Hard as iut is to do, you should hold him
in your arms, have the vet give him some tranquilizer which puts him to
sleep, and then give him the shot that stops his heart.

I expect others on this forum to disagree with me, but this is my opinion.

I sort of feel much the same as you. I don't want to put an animal
through suffering that they cannot understand.

I'm willing to put them through suffering if they will really be
better and happy afterwards. My cats know that I won't torture them
with no reason, or even with reason. But I put one cat through Chemo
and I don't know if I'd do that again. Supposedly they handle Chemo
better than people do but I'm not aware of any interviews that
confirmed this belief.

I went by what the vet said, that there was a good chance that the cat
would live for a few years and have a good quality of life. It turned
out that he only lived for a few months and probably suffered most of
the time. This is the toughest decision we have to make. Either we
force our cats to suffer or we put them to sleep too soon. No easy
decision here.