Cat with bleeding tumor

Our FELV cat has multiple fast growing tumors that the vet cannot remove.  There is no hope for recovery so we are trying to keep her comfortable for what is probably her last week or two.  She is doing relatively normal at the moment. Her biggest tumor (near shoulder blades) has peeled and started openly bleeding.  Any suggestions on keeping it clean? Also she loves going outside and we don't want to take that away from her.  At the moment she doesn't seem too bothered by the bleeding of the tumor, but we know it's only going to keep growing.  Can a pet live for some time with a bleeding tumor if it's not near any organs?

Hello - and yes, they can, although there are two important things to consider.  The first is, pain;  cats can be experts at hiding their pain but it doesn't mean they don't feel it as strongly as you can yourself.  If you consider how much a wound of that relative depth, length and degree of movement would hurt a person, you may not be far out and your vet may well ask to provide pain releif.  The other is the bleeding.  A simple, moderate bleed is easy for the system to recover from, but continuous bleeds may not be and could lead to tiredness. weakness and even confusion.   I'm sure you can already tell that this is not something an online vet should be assessing for you, but the in-person vet who can put your pets' quality of life into context.  They will want to think about whether your cat is a) pain free and b) happy.  Good questions for them include, " if my cat were yours, would you be happy with this quality of life? " If you search through our blog archive or visit The Ralph Site for questions relating to end of life care, you may find some helpful articles.

Thanks.  Fortunately the bleeding has stopped.  We do have pain medicine available we are going to start giving her.  She's been able to go outside.  She responded well to a B12 shot a week and a half ago and started eating almost normally, but now is going back to highly minimal food and water. The tumor is still rapidly growing, and moving toward the center of her body, but her quality of life still seems worth it for the moment as she's enjoying company and trips outside.