Intestinal lymphoma

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

Our beautiful girl has been diagnosed today - she’s absolutely fine in herself, bright as a button, no weight loss, eating well, so this is a huge shock. She’d been a bit pukey on and off and the vet hadn’t been concerned when we’d had her in, but suggested we had tests done when we had her in for her boosters the other week, and here we are.

We’ve had ultrasound and CT at a specialist today and will know more with biopsy results next week, but the prognosis doesn’t look great. I am beyond heartbroken. She’s 10. The vet spoke about chemo and steroids. I don’t know what to do. Has anyone been in this awful position? What did you do?

OP, sorry to hear this. Sadly ,I was in a similar position last year. My girl was quite a bit older than yours though and had other issues. All the vets could do was give her steroids to keep her appetite up😞. Surely they wouldn't have suggested chemo if they didn't think it would help. Sending you and your fur baby hugs💐

Thank you for replying. The vet is going to send through different options and we are still to get the biopsy results, but I feel quite conflicted about giving an animal chemo. Another factor is that the specialist vet who would deal with it is quite far away, whereas our own vet would do the steroids.

she’s had two dinners since coming home (we had to fast her so she skipped breakfast) so her appetite is fine for now! How long did you have with your girl if you don’t mind me asking?

I had to have my beautiful 14 year old boy pts a couple of weeks ago. The cancer was very aggressive and fast (literally a few weeks) and chemo didn't feel like an option, even if his life had been extended for a few weeks, the quality wasn't there.

He had lost huge amounts of weight even though he was always eating. Steroids helped a bit but it was bloody heartbreaking. I loved him so much but I believe that I made the right decision.

So sorry that you are facing this, sending love to you and your girl. Apologies that I don't have a better outcome to share.

Oh me I am so sorry to hear this. The vet seemed optimistic that she could have a good quality of life based on how she is now and that all her bloods were clear but I am prepared for the worst and we absolutely wouldn’t let her suffer.

Some times of lymphoma can have a decent response time and chemotherapy is not like human chemotherapy

@Judystilldreamsofhorses it might be that it's a less aggressive form than my darling had. He lost nearly half his body weight in a few weeks and the diagnosis took ages, endless tests. It was so stressful for him.
If the vet is optimistic that's positive. Our vet was very kind but honest about the situation.

@Borris the vet was very clear that animal chemo and human chemo were very different but I am still not sure if it’s a road we would go down when it is not a cure in this situation.

@Athena51 we had a CT scan today and she showed us the images, but we are waiting on biopsy results and I guess we will go from there. My poor baby 💔

So sorry. Our Burmese boy had lymphoma, he was aged 9. The vet suggested a course of weekly chemo, but he was so poorly after the first session (hiding away etc) that we felt the quality of life did not warrant continuing that treatment for what we knew would be his limited time left. He did do well on just steroids though, and he had 6 months of quality life before we took the sad decision to PTS.

This sounds like where I am at - I can’t imagine her loving being hauled out to the specialist vet in the dreaded box, half an hour away. I’d like her to have a summer of lying under the lilac tree in the sunshine, before she sleeps under it. My DP is so devastated and I think more willing than me to try anything - I am pretty good in a crisis (ex PR person!) and while heartbroken am trying to look at the bigger picture.

We changed vets for our boy; local vet just suggested special diets but it was clear they didn't know what was wrong. Another not so local vet suggested tests for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan rather than the scattershot altering of his diet that we'd tried for 4 months. In fact they correctly guessed lymphoma before the tests confirmed it, and I felt that if anyone could help him it was this vet practice. They had all the diagnostic stuff on site, the out of hours vet service was based there too so no moving the cat from one vet to another if there had to be hospital stays (actually for this cat there weren't, but it worked well for our other cats who sadly got ill with other ailments) It helped that he was happy enough to get in the basket and wasn't fussed about a 40 minute drive to the vet.
Looking back, the only thing that I would have changed is going to this vet practice sooner. Maybe he would have taken the chemo better earlier, I don't know. But I really feel there was nothing else that could have been done, and he did enjoy his last few months as his usual cheeky self.

If your cat has a small cell lymphoma, chemotherapy may actually help her quite a lot:
Source: https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/lymphoma#:~:text=Feline%20lymphoma%20is%20a%20malignant,of%20a%20cat's%20physical%20existence.

OP. She only lasted a few weeks. The tumour was quite aggressive and grew rapidly.

I think we are still processing it right now. Once the specialist vet sends over all the info we should hopefully feel better informed and able to make the right choices. I look like I have gone ten rounds this morning and can’t stop crying 💔

It looks like large cell.

Oh god. The vet said 1-3 months with the steroids only, 12 with the chemo - that’s without the biopsy results.

It might feel like the end of the world but don't despair or assume the worst just yet. My lovely boy was diagnosed with this in Jan 2021 when he was 13 after being very ill over the Christmas/New Year period. He was given 3 months, I was devastated. The vet suggested the steroid and chemo tablet route which I decided to follow (thankfully I had insurance as it was expensive but as he was classed as a geriatric cat they only paid 80% of the claims). He responded really well to the treatment and you wouldn't have even known he was ill. The chemo was stopped around August 2021 as he surprisingly appeared to have gone into remission but he continued on with the steroids. Unfortunately though he was susceptible to eye ulcers and he developed another so the steroids were also stopped as they were preventing the treatment he needed for that from working properly as his immune system was compromised. I was lucky enough to have him until Jan 2023 before the time came to let him go. I am so grateful to have been given that extra time with him and he had a good quality of life during that time. I miss him very much.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses I recognise your name from the perfumista threads - I am so sorry for your beautiful cat .

My 14 year old cat died from lymphoma in 2020.

He was given steroids and something to stop him being sick and he had 6 good, happy months after I was told he had a few weeks. I was never offered chemo.

This is an amazing outcome. My DP is keen on the idea of chemo while I am less so, but stories like this give me hope. A friend’s cat had the chemo and still only had four months, but he was very poorly before being diagnosed and the vet could feel the mass in his tummy with her hand. He maintains they are glad they did it and that his (cat’s) four months were good ones.

Thank you, we are so heartbroken 💔

This also sounds like a good outcome.

Here she is, my sweetest little heart. The one on the table was just half an hour ago, catching a wee spell of sunshine.

So sorry for everyone who has gone through this.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses what an absolute little poppet. Wishing you and her all the best x

She's lovely 😊 My boy had the chemo in tablet form, if I remember rightly it was one tablet every other day or two days. The alternative option was a weekly transfusion like a human would have. Frankie was always a nightmare at the vets so I went for the tablets and it worked really well as wasn't stressful or traumatic for him. Only precaution was I had to wear latex gloves when handling the tablets as they were toxic but that was no big deal. I think if you have the option to have the chemo you should really consider it as it can make a huge difference. Wishing you all the best whatever you decide.

Our 12 year old McVicar had abdominal lymphoma. She'd been ill on and off for four months.

She died only a week after the firm diagnosis. She had started hiding, and we felt that she was in pain.

We had her PTS and it was absolutely the right thing to do.

I'm sorry you're in this very sad situation, @Judystilldreamsofhorses