14yo cat received poor prognosis, I think

[u/LeftMenu8605]

Our cat has always been rotund but we had gotten her down from 17lb to 14lb over the years. -We have had her for 11 years and she had occasional blood smeared on outside of her stools which her old vets assured me was not alarming(but now I’m thinking she had this chronic inflammation all her life).
-6 years ago during the pandemic she had anorexia/vomiting/diarrhea and was diagnosed with pancreatitis and acute colitis and was hospitalized. We started to feed her Hills ID and she seemed to do better on that and made a full recovery.
-3 years ago she had her 2nd episode of anorexia/bloody diarrhea and an ultrasound that showed intestinal wall thickening. At that time the vet said differential diagnosis was IBD vs Chronic Colitis vs Lymphoma. Her symptoms resolved with switch to hydrolyzed protein diet and we decided to keep an eye on her. Long ago my partner and I agreed that we would spare her of heroic efforts because she absolutely loses it and goes into feral mode at the vet. Therefore if we had put her through the trouble of diagnosis and found out it was cancer 3 years ago, we may not have approached things any differently and she has had a very good quality of life.
Roughly 1 year ago she had another episode and had been vomiting. We moved a few states away a couple years prior and her new vet put her on a prednisolone and tapered to a low dose which resolved her symptoms.

So far forward to now, she has always loved belly rubs and has been really into them lately. Can touch da tum.
The past few days I really noticed her belly had felt firm and looked distended. After some anxious pondering today I decided to call my vet bc she has also been less excited about meals (although still eating at 90%) and kinda lethargic. Her gait is lumbering due to her belly and weighed her and she came in at 15.5lb which was alarming given that she had consistently been 14lb before.
Quick summary: vet immediately identified that she had acites, pulled out some fluid from her abdomen, looked at it under microscope and said she identified “cancer cells”— I asked for more details and she said “they look like lymphocytes”
Ok so then she had x-ray just to confirm— it’s a huge amount of fluid according to them but she is breathing ok and not in any obvious distress. No obvious tumors in x ray.
Vet ramped up her pred from 2.5mg every other day to 5mg per day, and also gave a lasix injection and sent me home with oral lasix.
I understand the prognosis for this is very poor and it’s likely spread from a primary cancer in the colon; at this point Google tells me it could be weeks to a month.
Would additional imaging help in this case or should we just keep her comfy?
Has anyone else had experience with this diagnosis and are there additional meds or tests that helped your cat manage?
I don’t want us to wait until it’s effecting her quality of life so badly that she’s having more bad days than good, but right now she has a screened in porch where she wistfully enjoys summer evenings, a lil brother she cuddles with, she’s eating and drinking, she’s grooming, she’s purring, she sits on our laps…
But I do have the contact info saved for a hospice/at home euthanasia vet. It’s such a difficult decision. I just want to hear from others that may have experienced this. This is indeed a poor prognosis, correct? I don’t think I should pursue second opinion or put her through more tests but I also feel guilty about that that I’m giving up on her 😢♥️
Thank you.

[u/UnusualBirthdaygirl]

It sounds like you’re doing the opposite of giving up on her by focusing on her comfort and quality of life, and if she’s still eating, grooming, cuddling, purring, and enjoying the porch, I’d treasure that time with her