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- Aug 26, 2015
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Hello,
I was very touched by an older forum about a sick kitty named Krash and people offered support and advice for his poor owner...now I am distraught. I am hoping for some insight.
My 11 year old orange tiger was diagnosed with small cell intestinal lymphoma a few weeks ago. This was confirmed by a biopsy when a large mass was discovered on an X-ray, and we chose to have him explored surgically. Turned out he had 2 masses, one was removed easily from the small bowel, but the other was embedded in the mesentery, which was non removable. Vet said his condition and biopsy results were favorable, there is no cure for lymphoma, only a goal for remission and management, so he did great after surgery, started on prednisolone, and ate like a champ. No vomiting.
Brought him in because the day after we tapered his prednisone, he started to lose interest in food. A day later he quit eating all together and the next day he quit drinking and started vomiting. And hiding.
Back to the vets, twice, and long story short, they did another X-ray, the remaining tumor was still there, size of a golf ball. And it appears there are 2 more masses. His wbc's are really high.
Vet upped the pred again, gave an injection of cerenia, and went home on zofran pills.
He stopped vomiting but refused to eat or drink. He became lethargic and weak. We dropped him off for supportive care at the vet where they hydrated him with sub q fluids and force fed him cat food slurries with a syringe, which he hated.
They wanted to start him on chlorambucil/leukeran next week. They offered to put in a feeding tube.
My question is: how can he begin chemo when he doesn't even want to eat or drink. And it seems like this lymphoma is aggressive if in less than 2 weeks there are already more masses while he is on prednisone. He is clearly not having a good quality of life. This is a previously friendly, social cat who hangs out with us, is very much a part of our family and now it's like he is feral, hiding, withdrawn. We refuse to let him suffer and starve to death but feel terrible for throwing in the towel on him.
Of course after getting hydrated he perked up, was walking around and actually drank a little water on his own.
We are willing to take this as far as we can, as long as he shows signs of life. But to me, when an animal stops eating, they are telling us they've had enough.
Our vet says they've had cats more sick than Spencer, who turned it around with the chlorambucil and are now 3 and 4 years out. I want to believe in the chemo, but I don't trust cancer at all. We prayed for a miracle but it wasn't enough,
Any thoughts comments from anyone who's had to go through this before would be really appreciated.
I was very touched by an older forum about a sick kitty named Krash and people offered support and advice for his poor owner...now I am distraught. I am hoping for some insight.
My 11 year old orange tiger was diagnosed with small cell intestinal lymphoma a few weeks ago. This was confirmed by a biopsy when a large mass was discovered on an X-ray, and we chose to have him explored surgically. Turned out he had 2 masses, one was removed easily from the small bowel, but the other was embedded in the mesentery, which was non removable. Vet said his condition and biopsy results were favorable, there is no cure for lymphoma, only a goal for remission and management, so he did great after surgery, started on prednisolone, and ate like a champ. No vomiting.
Brought him in because the day after we tapered his prednisone, he started to lose interest in food. A day later he quit eating all together and the next day he quit drinking and started vomiting. And hiding.
Back to the vets, twice, and long story short, they did another X-ray, the remaining tumor was still there, size of a golf ball. And it appears there are 2 more masses. His wbc's are really high.
Vet upped the pred again, gave an injection of cerenia, and went home on zofran pills.
He stopped vomiting but refused to eat or drink. He became lethargic and weak. We dropped him off for supportive care at the vet where they hydrated him with sub q fluids and force fed him cat food slurries with a syringe, which he hated.
They wanted to start him on chlorambucil/leukeran next week. They offered to put in a feeding tube.
My question is: how can he begin chemo when he doesn't even want to eat or drink. And it seems like this lymphoma is aggressive if in less than 2 weeks there are already more masses while he is on prednisone. He is clearly not having a good quality of life. This is a previously friendly, social cat who hangs out with us, is very much a part of our family and now it's like he is feral, hiding, withdrawn. We refuse to let him suffer and starve to death but feel terrible for throwing in the towel on him.
Of course after getting hydrated he perked up, was walking around and actually drank a little water on his own.
We are willing to take this as far as we can, as long as he shows signs of life. But to me, when an animal stops eating, they are telling us they've had enough.
Our vet says they've had cats more sick than Spencer, who turned it around with the chlorambucil and are now 3 and 4 years out. I want to believe in the chemo, but I don't trust cancer at all. We prayed for a miracle but it wasn't enough,
Any thoughts comments from anyone who's had to go through this before would be really appreciated.