chemotherapy for cats - any experience? any regrets?

[poorlycat]

So my gorgeous 14 year old cat had fluid build up around the lungs which has been temporarily removed by syringe and the testing of the fluid has come back with a diagnosis of carcinoma, probably very advanced, not sure yet where it is, possibly everywhere.

He seems himself today and as far as I can tell, he is not having any symptoms other than the fluid, but this may return quickly. And of course the cancer will eventually (soon) cause other problems if it's not already.

I have an appointment with a specialist tomorrow to discuss treatment options, chemotherapy was mentioned.

Once I have all the info on what would be involved and likely outcomes I will have to make a decision quickly so just trying to prepare myself a bit.

Has anybody gone this route with a very mature / elderly cat or dog?

How did the treatment affect them? Did you get more time with them? Was the stress and discomfort of treatment worth it? I don't want to make his remaining weeks/months a misery, but also want as much time with him as I can have.

Sorry to hear about your cat. I'm afraid I don't have any experience (my two are still kittens) but didn't want to read and run!
Are they doing any more tests to find out more? Hopefully the vet will be able to advise you on the best course of treatment whether it's chemo or palliative care.
I think if I was in your position I wouldn't want the cat to suffer too much. It must be a difficult decision though.

The doses of chemo used in cats and dogs are lower than humans so they don't suffer such bad side effects.
I have had good response with Lymphoma in cats, but never used it for carcinoma.

If it was a younger cat I could understand the vet suggesting it but at 14 ??

Keep the poor thing comfortable and feed him all the favourite things it normally doesn't get allowed, treat the symptoms & keep him happy. I did this with my old moggy at 17 & she lasted till 21!!

I am soory to hear about your cat. I am with floundering on this.

Our cat had lymphoma and we decided not to have chemo.

She did have an operation and it was found to be fast growing.

Considering the monitoring ie check ups, blood tests, tablets each day vs possible slight benefit. It just seemed not worth it and instead she was given as many treats, milk and other naughties as she could manage.

She was 15 and I miss her every day but I don't regret the choice not to have chemo.

Knowing how much my cats hate vets and all things medical it isn't a route I would go down with mine. I'm a firm believer in quality of life over quantity.

I have no experience of cats at all, but our dog (a miniature yorkshire terrier) had chemotherapy a year ago. He had a lump on his leg, which the vet removed completely, but which on biopsy was shown to be a very aggressive form (can't remember the exact name of the lump, sorry!).

He was nearly 13 at the time. Whilst he didn't enjoy being at the vet, or all the injections, other than that, it didn't seem to affect him badly. He'd spend the first day after each treatment sleeping it off but after that he was back to normal - even on better form some of the time, as he was on steroids, which boosted his energy levels and appetite.

The treatment lasted three months and I have no regrets whatsoever about it. He finally succumbed to kidney disease earlier this year and we had to have him put to sleep about 6 weeks ago, which broke all our hearts, but I am very grateful to the vets who gave us a bonus year with him by treating his cancer.

I totally understand what others are saying about quality of life - that was why we had him put to sleep before the kidney disease took too bad a toll on him as we didn't want him to suffer in any way. But I firmly believe that he wasn't ready to go last year, and didn't suffer anything other than mild discomfort from the chemo. It helped that the vets were amazing and treated him like their own pet - they were all as upset as we were at the end.

We had a young cat who was diagnosed with cancer, we tried chemo (tablets), it it didn't work at all but he didn't have any serious side effects either. After a couple of weeks we could see it was having no effect, and by this point his back legs were paralysed, so very reluctantly we took the decision to PTS

I would probably look at what discomfort the cancer was causing the cat, and how much the chemo would help with that. If it was a case of chemo preventing spread, and the cat feeling otherwise fine and well, I might consider it. If it was preserving a status quo where the cat is already unwell, but buying a bit of time before an inevitable PTS, I probably wouldn't.

My concern would be that while he has no symptoms other than the fluid, cats tend not to express pain until the pain is really unbearable, so it's hard to tell whether he's suffering.

We had a cat with bleeding tumours. Chemo wasn't offered, as by the time we caught it it was too late for her, but she had likely been having small internal bleeds for some time. Makes me feel sick to think of, even now, as she must've been in pain and we had no idea at all.

My cat has been on chemo for lymphoma for nearly 4 yrs (she was 7 when we started so no that old).

No side effects and it's put her into a partial remission ( so shrinking but not disappearance of the masses she had and then they've so far stayed smaller) so not having the original symptoms that led to her being diagnosed in the first place.

She does have a finer coat and seems more bothered by the cold, also she's since developed arthritis and her options for that are limited by the lymphoma treatment.

After the first few weeks of check ups and seeing the specialist, once we'd established that she was fine on it and it was working well enough - it was a blood test at my own vets every three months which we've gradually eked out to every 6 months the longer she's been stable.

There are issues if you have young children though as you have to be careful about bodily fluids for after some treatments - with her it's one week in two as she has a tablet every two weeks.

My cat was 10 and had intestinal lymphoma, she had chemo and went into remission and survived for three years however as expected the cancer returned and she had to be pts. She had no side effects apart from slightly different color hair regrowth after she was shaved. It cost a lot approx five thousand but nearly all of that was covered by pet insurance.