Long-term prednisolone and (possible) large-cell lymphoma

[catsinfrance]

Hello all,
I hope that everyone is safe and well. This is my first post ... really I'm just looking for other people's experience if possible please. We have a (nearly) 13-yo cat who is absolutely my little treasure. We nearly lost her last year to what they initially said was large-cell lymphoma. It's a long story involving multiple vets and confused diagnoses, but the result is that, as of last spring, she's been on prednisolone 5mg every other day. As of the last time she was seen by the vet oncologist (last spring), she had no signs of cancer.
Ultimately I'm wondering the wisdom of taking her down to 2.5mg every other day as I don't want her to take more steroids than she needs. We don't have a vet we can ask; the oncologist nearly killed her with the treatment she gave on the day she said there were no signs of cancer, so we haven't been back. We can't afford to anymore anyway. All a bit of a mess. Our local vet is very nice and caring, but doesn't treat cancer at all, and can't advise us one way or the other apart from that it might be worth a try. She gives a repeat rx for the pred along with a gemmothérapie mix (French plant remedy) to mitigate potential side effects.
We treat with various remedies and supplements, also a careful diet because there was a question of kidney failure too at one point (partly thanks to said oncologist). She's a different cat to how she was last January when we first realised she was unwell. She plays, she eats, chases our younger cat, carries her mousey around and talks to everyone. She has a pot belly now (pred + IBD?), but no other signs of anything untoward. No signs of kidney failure anymore either although we haven't had her blood tested for some months. No visible signs anyway. (She is not on a low-protein diet, btw, as she was losing too much muscle mass. Just a careful diet!)
I understand that none of you can give advice, but I'd like to hear other people's experiences if you wouldn't mind sharing. Just so that I can try to build up a picture of the risks / benefits. Ah the other thing is that she's small and always has been: around 6lbs or maybe a bit over these days now she has her appetite back (she didn't eat for 6wks at one point after the oncologist ... thank god for recovery liquid and supplements).
My natural inclination would be to reduce the meds, but I'm aware that, right now, she seems ok. If the risk of cancer outweighs the risk of side effects, then we'll stay as we are!
Thank you all for reading. Take care and have a good whatever time it is wherever you are.
catsinfrance :-)

(by last spring I mean 2021)

 

[daftcat75]

5 mg every other day doesn't sound like too much. Every other day is a blessing, in and of itself. A lot of vets prescribe it for daily or even twice daily and that's where the greatest risk for long-term side effects comes in. It takes longer than a day for a cat to metabolize pred. Every other day dosing gives the cat a small break between doses so she's not "on" all the time.

I know large cell lymphoma comes with a poor prognosis. So that is wonderful that she's cancer-free.

Because cats' physiology becomes dependent on steroids, I wouldn't recommend changing her dose without the blessing and supervision of a vet. Perhaps you can shop around and save up for another oncologist consultation. I have heard of some cats being put on chlorambucil (chemotherapy) for the long-term because it comes with a lesser risk.

 

[catsinfrance]

Thank you :-)
For now, perhaps we're best just continuing as we are then. We never dared to hope that she'd still be with us after over a year, so it's already been a little miracle!