Huge Lymphnodes In Neck. But Not Cancer?

I have it in my notes on my phone actually! How his bowl movements are. His meds/supplements. Appetite and behavior. What that stupid blunt and negative er doctor said the other day really stuck with me. Without examining him she just saw in his notes he has ITP and what he was hospitalized for last month and how young he was she said first thing I am very concerned about his quality of life his prognosis being so young is not good he will not last long I dont see him getting over anything. I believe we're just putting a bandaid on this treating his anemia Its just a bandaid.

She ruined that clinic for me. Such an awful person and she said he had lymphoma before she even tested just knowing his lymphnodes were swollen. When my vet told me swollen lymphnodes rarely mean cancer and that she was an idiot

So sorry your kitty is going through this!

**I am not a vet and you should consult a vet to make sure, but...

You know, cyclosporin (atopica) can cause swollen lymph nodes. It's listed as a possible side effect:
Cyclosporine (Atopica) - Pet, Dog and Cat Medication and Prescription List | petMD

It's a pretty strong immunosuppressant drug. I'm not sure how long your cat was on it. From what I've read while I was researching another topic in regards to something about my own cat (glucocorticoids, another immunosuppressant drug), it could lead to being more susceptible to certain infections or parasites or organisms gaining a foothold...
http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/complications-immunosuppressive-therapy-proceedings

This excerpt talks about dogs but it might apply more broadly to cats too? (You could ask your vet.)
"... Long-term administration of cyclosporine in dogs tends to be associated with infection from opportunistic organisms, parasitic, or viral infections. In the author’s practice, we have seen several dogs on cyclosporine for immune-mediated hematologic disease develop either dermatophytosis, or subcutaneous infections with uncommon opportunistic fungal organisms. The literature would support this pattern of post-immune suppression complication. Infections with other organisms, such as Toxoplasma gondii, have also been described in dogs and cats treated with immunosuppressive drugs. ..."

That first page also brings up that cyclosporin is metabolized by the cytochrome P450 enzymes... so any other med or drug given to the cat which may also need this system to help it metabolize properly could cause some complications or drug interactions with cyclosporin. I saw in your signature notes that you are maybe giving your kitty CBD? ("On RX clay, proviable, 4mg CBD") CBD oil might inhibit P450 enzymes or something, from what I understand.

Glad your boss (your kitty's regular vet?) is around! (this is a link to your post #7 in this thread)
Huge Lymphnodes In Neck. But Not Cancer?

Does that vet know how to deal with the swollen lymph nodes?

He was on cyclosporine since january and we had to stop cold turkey everything last month. It seemed the issues started when we added in the name brand drug called atopica..even a low dose severely messed him up. His specialist said cyclosporine in cats is well tolerated they have overdosed cats severely for a year testing it and almost no negative things happened. So sad though. He is on the CBD currently but dont even think it's doing anything... right now I caved and put him on 2.5 mg prednisolone while hes on the doxy for the next 3 weeks. His nodes are a lot smaller thankfully. But yes I've read it can enlarge lymphnodes! They started doing that when he got on them.. on and off and would get fevers

Okay, this is my opinion, but I guess I'd encourage you to be careful if you are using CBD oil. I personally would never use it for my cat.

This thread pretty much shows how I feel about it, and the poster in post #4 gives a link that shows it could have possible interactions with steroids too
Mixing Cbd And Prednisolone

I hope your cat will be feeling much better very soon!

PushPurrCatPaws said:

Okay, this is my opinion, but I guess I'd encourage you to be careful if you are using CBD oil. I personally would never use it for my cat.

This thread pretty much shows how I feel about it, and the poster in post #4 gives a link that shows it could have possible interactions with steroids too
Mixing Cbd And Prednisolone

I hope your cat will be feeling much better very soon!

Click to expand...

Thank you. I actually haven't noticed any benefits giving it to him.. a lot of people said it helped appetite a lot. I know turmeric is really good for anti inflammatory purposes and slippery elm bark. Maybe I'll try one of those instead of the CBD once he is off pred

There are definitely well-versed proponents of CBD here at TCS, and that's what I like about TCS -- it's not an echo chamber. It always helps to get a variety of opinions on all sides so you can just decide on your own what you choose to do.

I just wanted to update you guys. I've been giving him his doxycycline twice a day (he is positive for a mycoplasma parasite) it hosts near the nose so it makes sense about the lymphnodes! A couple days after giving doxy they started to shrink and are completely down now. He has to be on it for 3 weeks. He is also on pet tinic. He seriously is acting like a 2 month old kitten the last week it is insane. Eating well. Just crazy he has never had energy like this he acts like he feels perfectly healthy and normal. We are waiting for his big blood work up to come back and honestly whatever it is even with his platelet count as long as he is acting great I wont worry. if his platelets come back lower than they should I wont jump the gun and put on strong immunosuppressants because this was his main issue before was being overly suppressed. Feelings over numbers

YES! Best news of the day!

Sounds much better than your earlier posts! Hope the situation continues tom improve! Keep us posted!

I wanted to update again. Yesterday things got worse. Lymphnodes started swelling again, feeling warm and doesnt want food. I'm honestly at a loss. He is still on the doxy

I put him on 2.5mg of pred on the 4th as well as starting doxy. I then halved the pred a week later and completely stopped it on sept 17th and it seems to be the culprit. The doxy never helped and isnt helping it was the steroid.

Sorry to hear his lymph nodes are enlarging again. I am including an article about mycoplasma infections in cats, in case there is information in it that you haven't seen before. The article does state that the infection is hard to eradicate and may require a different type of antibiotics depending on the part of the body being affected, and that in some cases multiple courses of the antibiotic may be necessary. It also states that cats with immune disorders are typically the ones most affected by this infection.

You might want to talk to your vet about these aspects and how the latter might play a role in the Pred helping with the lymph nodes. In all the articles I read, none of them discussed using steroids to help eradicate the infection.

Note as well that disinfection is a necessary part of eradicating mycoplasma.

I am sorry to say, but I think your original idea that the swollen lymph nodes having to do with his immune system is on target. If it were me, I'd be pressing that issue with the vet at this point.

Mycoplasma Infection in Cats - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Recovery, Management, Cost

The vet said he doesnt think mycoplasma is the culprit. He said most cats has this strain of it and most dont show any symptoms at all just test positive and carry it. The holistic vet he started seeing yesterday is trying to detox his body from the pred and help heal it while mixing up some herbs to help calm the immune system and she told me to buy cas options medicinal mushrooms for animals but they havent shipped yet

He actually ate maybe a table spoon of food on his own just now. Cerenia proves to do absolutely nothing for him (vet gave me quartered out tablets for nausea) ondansetron that his specialist gave me seems to have helped a little I would think because I gave it to him about 30 minutes ago and he went to his food bowl to have a little snack and is now grooming himself.


Also.. his specialist called me and told me doxy is not appropriate for mycoplasma . He is going to start enrofloxacin for a week starting tonight. He told me to keep him on that very low dose of pred because obviously he responds very well to it and that low of a dose is mainly just theraputic for anti inflammatory and wont supress the immune system. He went back and finished his food.