Lymphoma in young cats

[chocolateyclur]

Stories please.

2 weeks ago my healthy, happy 18 month old cat lost weight dramatically, lost condition in his fur and became very depressed. We tried him on new food, which he started eating and showed some improvement. Yesterday I noticed his breathing was very laboured.

Vet today has said it's probable lymphoma - he has some lumps in his abdomen and under his armpits. She's investigating surgically tomorrow. She didn't really say anything as to severity - very much wait and see, though I got the feeling it wasn't positive.

I need experience here. And good, good thoughts. He is the loveliest cat ever, happy, friendly, plays fetch and is so wonderful.

Ah, shit.

Not as young as that, mine is 7.

She lost weight and condition gradually over a period of about 6 months and was being sick, but not regularly - I mean enough to notice but not enough that it was immediately worrying.

Anyway, she was diagnosed in may and while they were still doing ultrasounds and stuff, she started vomiting every half hour. It's in her spleen and abdomen - so it was pressing on get stomach. They gave her medication for that and started her on chemo.

She takes two chemotherapy tablets every fortnight and daily steroids - after the first fortnight, the vet could feel that the masses were smaller (not gone, they're not going to be cured) She has to have blood tests every so often as well, to check her White blood count - we're down to every 8 weeks for that.

So far, she's been fine, she's put weight back on, her coat's sleek again and she's her usual playful active self. Her coat is paler though, lol and where it was shaved on her side for the tests it still hadn't grown back properly - but they've been the only side effects so far.

I was told the longest they had treated a cat in that way was 3 years, so it's basically a case of prolonging her life a bit - but they estimated 6 months at the most if they didn't treat based on her test results, so it's a fairly big difference.

HTH

Has your cat had an FeLV test? The prognosis for FeLV associated lymphoma and non-FeLV lymphoma are very different.

Thank you both.

He tested negative for leukaemia this morning, so they took him to surgery. Once they opened him up they found he was riddled with leisions, with prognosis of survival post op only being a few days. We made the decision not to have him brought round from the general anaesthetic.

I'm in shock still. I love my kitty, and can't believe how much I'm going to miss him

I'm really sorry to hear that.

I'm so sorry

I'm very sorry chocolatey

I'm so so sorry. You must be terribly upset. You gave him lots of love and made his life very happy. Not much comfort I know but that means so much to a little cat, really it does.

A very similar story to mine.
My lovely eighteen month old cat went in for surgery last Friday with the same outcome.

Many sympathies.