Cat blockage - exploratory surgery
Female Cat
11 years old
10 pounds, but losing weight
US - midwest
Our cat has had a couple of very rough months. She is going through a cycle of violently throwing up, not eating for 1-2 days, then acting normal for a couple of weeks. The period of acting normal is getting shorter and shorter. She has been to the vet on multiple occassions during this period.
Initially the blood work showed pacreatitis, she was given anti nausea medicine and a steroid. She regained her strength, was eating normally, and back to her old self. Then the cycle started repeating. We took her back and they did an utlrasound. The doctor indicated there was something on the ultrasound in her GI tract but could not confirm it was a tumor without surgery. She also said because of the location, its unlikely they would be able to remove it even if it was a tumor. She stayed on the anti-nausea medicine long term after this to see if it would prevent future episodes.
She went back to the vet today after not eating for almost 3 days besides being handfed a couple things tubes of delectables. They did a barium X-ray. The vet called and stated that there is an issue because the barium is draining from her stomach extremely slowly. She stated that the barium should be through the colon at this point. The options offered were -
Exploratory surgery.
Putting her to sleep.
The vet stated based on the location and imaging that she suspected there was only a 5% chance that it would be something that can be removed/fixed surgically.
We are likely opting for option 2 but my wife and I are having an incredibly difficult time with this. I don't even know what my question is besides does that all sound reasonable given the information above?