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?
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Intestinal lymphoma
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 03/04/2024 20:03
Fernticket · 03/04/2024 20:12
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💐
Athena51 · 03/04/2024 21:30
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.
Noseyoldcow · 03/04/2024 22:05
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.
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 03/04/2024 21:13
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?
Fernticket · 03/04/2024 20:12
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💐
Noseyoldcow · 04/04/2024 08:23
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.
Mia184 · 04/04/2024 09:39
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.
Fernticket · 04/04/2024 10:11
OP. She only lasted a few weeks. The tumour was quite aggressive and grew rapidly.
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 03/04/2024 21:13
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?
Fernticket · 03/04/2024 20:12
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💐
Onthemarket2024 · 04/04/2024 10:16
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.
EditedPuppylucky · 04/04/2024 15:47
@Judystilldreamsofhorses I recognise your name from the perfumista threads - I am so sorry for your beautiful cat .
Gingerkittykat · 04/04/2024 16:09
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.
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