... on my post about our 14-year-old cat who is basically wasting away to
skin and bones before our eyes, even though he eats enormous amounts of
food, and is unable to control his defecation, and showed the enormously
high liver enzymes on the bloodwork and lymphoma is suspected..

I am going to call the internist Monday morning and at least discuss the
situation with him. I am inclined to have the ultrasound done, at least then
if it is lymphoma, we'll know without any shadow of a doubt that euthanizing
him will be the right course of action. Because as I said in my other post,
if it is lymphoma, then we will go ahead and have him put to sleep because
we're not going to subject him, at his age, having had 14 years of life and
love that he probably wouldn't have gotten if my wife's sister hadn't
rescued him from the side of the road, to treatment that from all I've been
able to gather will only buy him a few months at best.

I basically want to find out ... and if there are any vets out there, maybe
you can chime in ... how much I can sedate the cat for this 80-mile trip,
because again, it's hard for me to put into words just how badly this cat
travels, and it's not anything recent, it's something that's manifested
himself since he was a kitten. I'm not overstating or exaggerating this
situation. We've tried covering the carrier, we've tried positioning the
carrier where he can only see me or my wife, we've tried when traveling with
both cats to position the carriers where they can see each other and none of
that has worked. The only thing that works is sedation and at times it's
taking double Valium to calm him down enough to travel. Quite frankly, and
I'm not exaggerating this either, I fear that in his present debilitated
state, he may very well not live through this trip unless he is sedated.

The thing is, he'll apparently have to be sedated for the ultrasound as
well, and I need to make sure that he doesn't get so much sedation that it
puts him to sleep that way.

Anyway, thanks again for the input. This is a difficult situation. I don't
want this to sound heartless or cruel, because we love the cat and have been
praying that something miraculous will happen and he'll get better, but I've
found myself at times wishing that he'd just slip away peacefully while he's
asleep, take the decision out of our hands and put it in God's. But it's
most likely going to be our call and we are not going to let the cat suffer.
My wife is concerned that he is suffering, and while he doesn't appear
outwardly to be in any pain, a life of nothing but eating and defecating
can't be much fun. Plus I'm getting the sense ... and of course I don't know
for sure, I'd love to know what's going on inside his head but I don't speak
"feline," this is just a feeling I have based on knowing this cat and his
actions, etc., for 14 years ... from what he's doing when he defecates
outside the box, defecating specifically on things, and just from the way he
acts and looks at us, especially when I hold him, that he may be trying to
get the message across that he is miserable and it's time.