Hi

Weird one. My cat is quite old (about 14/15ish) and recently has a strange nasty smelling substance on the sides of her legs below the knee and on top of but not under her paws. It's particularly bad on the outer sides of her back legs.
Now I've tried cleaning it off but the next day she's even worse! It smells yucky but can't really confirm if it's poo, general mud or wee soaked litter from the tray. The latest signs of it seem to be around her mouth, but can't tell properly for sure...
The way it appears on her legs almost seems like it's getting there when she's lying down or something, but she rarely goes outside and her beds are reasonably clean. (As only cat beds can be!). No-one is there to see what she gets up to during the day... but the substance isn't anywhere else on her!

Any ideas please? She'll have to visit the vets very soon if it continues - I'd be suprised if they would be able to figure it out though... :help:

She may be lurking under cars or under a hedge in which case check it's not oil. Maybe she's found her way under someone's decking and it's stagnant muddy puddles she's trotting through, looking for mice?

Well we took her to the vets last night and unfortunately found out she has a cancerous tumour on her tongue. That's been causing the staining on her legs when she's been sleeping... it's also been stopping her eating properly.

It's very sad as the vet asked if we wanted her putting down there and then or leaving for a while - aparrently she'll only last another 2 weeks at the most. So we've brought her home and treated her like royalty since. :(

How the hell do you decide when it's time though? We're thinking of sooner rather than later as her quality of life will only get worse as the days go by... it's horrible talking about her as if she's already gone, and trying to sort out arrangements for after she's gone whilst she's still sitting in front of us purring... :cry:

Any advice in this would be much appreciated!

While ever she's comfortable and you can cope, leave her.

I nursed an incontinent old cat for 2 weeks (giving her chance for her to recover from kidney failure), only when it was clear that she was suffering did I have her PTS.

I felt I owed it to her to give her all of the love till the end, and not make the end premature for my convenience.

I'm so sorry to hear that Briano- it certainly goes to explain why her saliva smells so much when she's washed her legs. Tumours tend to smell of rotting tissue much of the time.

You'll know when it's time to let her go as long as you're listening to her as well as your own pain. Don't be fooled by the purr though, cats can purr when they're really scared or in pain as well as when they're happy.

She's likely to withdraw from you and lose her interest in things and then you'll know that she's ready to go, but I tend to err on the side of earlier rather than later too, so as soon as you're out of the shock of learning that it's going to happen start listening to her and your inner self. There will be a moment at which not making her go through things any more will be the right thing to do.

aww that's rotten news Briano -I'm so sorry to hear it. Poor old lady.