Any experience with cats with cancer?

[Shameem]

Hello,

My cat has chronic stomach issues as she vomits alot, and I even made a thread here a while back. Been taking her to vets her entire life and the result were always fine.

She'll be 13 y in two months, last September I took her to the vet and they did xray, blood tests and Endoscopy, they all came out fine, except the doctor told me that her anesthesia was difficult so advised me not to do other procedures unless necessary.

In the past 2 months, I feel that her vomit has increased to almost daily, changed food and gave her nexium which helps for 1 or 2 days then vomits again. I took her to another doctor today, he did an xray and told me it seems there is a mass above her stomach but can't be sure unless she he does a diagnoatic procedure and make a large cut on her stomach to figure out. Even though it's dangerous for her, I agreed to having it next week.

My questions is, did any of you deal with a cat with cancer? What,were the signs? Did they catch it early? How did they catch it?
My cat seems fine generally, I can't point any changes exept in the past month she prefers wet food over dry food now, before she wouldn't even touch any wet food.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

My Maddie started vomiting all the time at the same age a few years ago. Vet first diagnosed IBD, gave medication for that. It didn't help. Then they realised they'd misdiagnosed her and she had advanced cancer, and all that was left was palliative care. That didn't help either - she fought tooth and claw against getting medication and would vomit it straight back - and I had her put to sleep in a fairly short time. I'd lost a previous cat to cancer years earlier and wasn't going to make the same mistake with Mads of waiting too long.

I hope your girl doesn't have cancer, or if she does, it's early enough to treat.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hello.

My cat Cheetah has small cell intestinal lymphoma with a space occupying mass in her intestines, right after her stomach. This was all diagnosed through an abdominal ultrasound with a very skilled and knowledgeable feline only veterinarian who has had extensive additional education in ultrasounds and has the best equipment. She was diagnosed in November 2022.

Cheetah was not a good anesthesia candidate. That is why I opted to not do a biopsy. The ultrasound was diagnostic because it showed the classic signs of thickened mucosal layer of the intestines, enlarged abdominal lymph nodes, and of course the mass in the intestines.

Cheetah's symptoms were vomiting and constipation. It had started a few years prior and at that time was diagnosed with IBD. I was told to put her on Prednisolone at that time, but sadly I did not. So, I am sure the chronic inflammation led to the cancer. Eventually the vomiting increased.

The treatment she was put on after the lymphoma diagnosis through ultrasound, is a novel protein prescription diet. She gets:
Royal Canin PR (Rabbit diet) canned.
Prednisolone 5 mg twice a day at the start of this treatment, and it was reduced gradually to 5mg every other evening.
Chlorambucil (Chemotherapy) 2 mg tablet every other day, on days she doesn't get the prednisolone. At first, I used to give her
Cerenia 6 mg by mouth 2 hours prior to the chemotherapy pill, she doesn't need it anymore.
Subcutaneous fluids as needed (Lactated Ringers Solution) 50 cc Subcutaneously as needed.
Vitamin B12 injection, 0.5 cc Subcutaneous once a week to start and now once every four weeks.
1 tablespoon canned pumpkin as needed for constipation.
Buprenorphine 0.1 mg. by mouth as needed for pain.

With the above plan, she has done well since her diagnosis. There are of course some ups and downs, but her quality of life is still good. I try to have her seen every 6 months and have repeated the ultrasound a couple of times.

I have the Chlorambucil (chemotherapy) pills compounded from Wedgewood Pharmacy, so the cost is reasonable.

So, that is what I do with my cat Cheetah.
She gets other medications as well, but not related to the cancer.

 

[Shameem]

My Maddie started vomiting all the time at the same age a few years ago. Vet first diagnosed IBD, gave medication for that. It didn't help. Then they realised they'd misdiagnosed her and she had advanced cancer, and all that was left was palliative care. That didn't help either - she fought tooth and claw against getting medication and would vomit it straight back - and I had her put to sleep in a fairly short time. I'd lost a previous cat to cancer years earlier and wasn't going to make the same mistake with Mads of waiting too long.

I hope your girl doesn't have cancer, or if she does, it's early enough to treat.

I am so sorry to hear what Maddie went through, that is one reason I want to go ahead with the diagnostic surgery, I am too worried that the doctors were missing something.

 

[Shameem]

D

Hello.

My cat Cheetah has small cell intestinal lymphoma with a space occupying mass in her intestines, right after her stomach. This was all diagnosed through an abdominal ultrasound with a very skilled and knowledgeable feline only veterinarian who has had extensive additional education in ultrasounds and has the best equipment. She was diagnosed in November 2022.

Cheetah was not a good anesthesia candidate. That is why I opted to not do a biopsy. The ultrasound was diagnostic because it showed the classic signs of thickened mucosal layer of the intestines, enlarged abdominal lymph nodes, and of course the mass in the intestines.

Cheetah's symptoms were vomiting and constipation. It had started a few years prior and at that time was diagnosed with IBD. I was told to put her on Prednisolone at that time, but sadly I did not. So, I am sure the chronic inflammation led to the cancer. Eventually the vomiting increased.

The treatment she was put on after the lymphoma diagnosis through ultrasound, is a novel protein prescription diet. She gets:
Royal Canin PR (Rabbit diet) canned.
Prednisolone 5 mg twice a day at the start of this treatment, and it was reduced gradually to 5mg every other evening.
Chlorambucil (Chemotherapy) 2 mg tablet every other day, on days she doesn't get the prednisolone. At first, I used to give her
Cerenia 6 mg by mouth 2 hours prior to the chemotherapy pill, she doesn't need it anymore.
Subcutaneous fluids as needed (Lactated Ringers Solution) 50 cc Subcutaneously as needed.
Vitamin B12 injection, 0.5 cc Subcutaneous once a week to start and now once every four weeks.
1 tablespoon canned pumpkin as needed for constipation.
Buprenorphine 0.1 mg. by mouth as needed for pain.

With the above plan, she has done well since her diagnosis. There are of course some ups and downs, but her quality of life is still good. I try to have her seen every 6 months and have repeated the ultrasound a couple of times.

I have the Chlorambucil (chemotherapy) pills compounded from Wedgewood Pharmacy, so the cost is reasonable.

So, that is what I do with my cat Cheetah.
She gets other medications as well, but not related to the cancer.

I am glad to hear that your cat is doing better now! I am not sure why the vet didn't recommed an ultra sound for my cat for further diagnosis? He just asked me if they did one in the past only which has been done. Surgery is a difficult decision. I am trying to get a copy of the xray and look for a second opinion.

Vomitting is not something new as I mentioned for my cat, although I feel it increased slightly, there were no other visible changes except eating wet food rather than dry.

We don't have good vets or clinics to be honest in my country and I have been through multiple clinics and doctors. I hope I end up making the right decision.

 

[louisstools]

My angel boy had oral squamous cell cancer. It bore a hole in the roof of his mouth. His only sypmtoms were sneezing so I took him to the vet who found the hole. She sent us to a local veterinary cancer specialist and he did an aspiration test and did not find cancer. So thinking we were cancer free, we wanted a surgeon to close the hole. My vet referred us to the veterinary staff at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and they agreed to do the surgery to close the hole but recommended a biopsy to conclusively rule out cancer. Sadly the test results showed cancer and where the hole in his mouth from the cancer was, they could not provide a treatment plan and diagnosed it as terminal. I gave him three months of quality care as best I could and put him to sleep before he started slowing down significantly.

That's our story.

My questions is, did any of you deal with a cat with cancer? see above
What were the signs? He was sneezing a lot (stuff like food/fur would go from his mouth into his nasal cavity and he would violently sneeze)
Did they catch it early? No.
How did they catch it? Biopsy.

 

[silent meowlook]

One thing I do want to mention is that small cell intestinal lymphoma in cats is not a death sentence. If treated properly, they can have years of a good quality of life.

The vets recommend the anesthesia with surgery and full thickness biopsies because that is the gold standard of care. Second best is anesthesia with endoscopy and biopsies. But in my personal experience, often times these biopsies are inconclusive.

I am sorry you don’t have good vets where you are. Do you mind saying what country you are in? If you don’t want to say, it’s fine.

 

[Shameem]

My angel boy had oral squamous cell cancer. It bore a hole in the roof of his mouth. His only sypmtoms were sneezing so I took him to the vet who found the hole. She sent us to a local veterinary cancer specialist and he did an aspiration test and did not find cancer. So thinking we were cancer free, we wanted a surgeon to close the hole. My vet referred us to the veterinary staff at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and they agreed to do the surgery to close the hole but recommended a biopsy to conclusively rule out cancer. Sadly the test results showed cancer and where the hole in his mouth from the cancer was, they could not provide a treatment plan and diagnosed it as terminal. I gave him three months of quality care as best I could and put him to sleep before he started slowing down significantly.

That's our story.

My questions is, did any of you deal with a cat with cancer? see above
What were the signs? He was sneezing a lot (stuff like food/fur would go from his mouth into his nasal cavity and he would violently sneeze)
Did they catch it early? No.
How did they catch it? Biopsy.

I am sorry for your loss, and thank you for providing the information it was helpful as it seems even at late stages cats do not show major symptoms. My reluctancy to do the surgery because she is moving normally and her appetite is normal as well. I hope the results would be good.

 

[Shameem]

One thing I do want to mention is that small cell intestinal lymphoma in cats is not a death sentence. If treated properly, they can have years of a good quality of life.

The vets recommend the anesthesia with surgery and full thickness biopsies because that is the gold standard of care. Second best is anesthesia with endoscopy and biopsies. But in my personal experience, often times these biopsies are inconclusive.

I am sorry you don’t have good vets where you are. Do you mind saying what country you are in? If you don’t want to say, it’s fine.

I am not sure if it's intestinal lymphoma because the suspected mass in above the stomach and near the liver as I recall, but whatever it is, I hope it's something simple and treatable. I think I will check with them if Ultrasound is possible to get a diagnosis before going in the surgery.

 

[VinceL]

Our cat Loki was diagnosed with lymphoma at 13 years old. His only real symptom was major weight loss. We treated him with chlorambucil (3 times per week) and prednisolone every day. I had read (and our vet and our daughter who is also a vet confirmed) that since lymphoma in cats is not very aggressive, cats can live 2-4 years after a diagnosis of lymphoma. Loki did well for about 2 years. Then he cut back on eating and started vomiting a few times per week. He lost more weight and then completely stopped eating. His time had come.

 

[Shameem]

Our cat Loki was diagnosed with lymphoma at 13 years old. His only real symptom was major weight loss. We treated him with chlorambucil (3 times per week) and prednisolone every day. I had read (and our vet and our daughter who is also a vet confirmed) that since lymphoma in cats is not very aggressive, cats can live 2-4 years after a diagnosis of lymphoma. Loki did well for about 2 years. Then he cut back on eating and started vomiting a few times per week. He lost more weight and then completely stopped eating. His time had come.

Sorry to hear about Loki, and thank you for sharing your experience. Like most here, it seems that there are no major symptoms like loss of appetite. If I may ask, how did they diagnose him? was it through surgery?

 

[VinceL]

Sorry to hear about Loki, and thank you for sharing your experience. Like most here, it seems that there are no major symptoms like loss of appetite. If I may ask, how did they diagnose him? was it through surgery?

In our area there is a vet who exclusively travels to various veterinary practices and performs ultrasounds. The ultrasound confirmed that there was a mass. Our vet said he could do a biopsy, but didn't feel it was necessary given the expert opinion of the vet performing the ultrasound.

 

[Bastet111]

I'm sorry to hear about your cat's health struggles. It's concerning that there may be a mass, but it's good you're pursuing further diagnostics. Cancer in cats can show varied signs, from subtle changes in appetite or behavior to more obvious symptoms like lumps or weight loss. Early detection often involves regular vet check-ups and diagnostic tests like X-rays or blood work. Wishing you and your cat the best.

 

[Shameem]

Thank you all for your help. The doctor updated me today after surgery and he found that she has Lymphatic inflammation, not cancer, thank God. He told me this might have been caused by the Diet so he recommended another brand. He will also give her cerenia injection twice a week for the vomiting.