My Cat Charlie - Pancreatitis? Lost alot of weight and Little appetite

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miguel99nyc

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Hello Daft,

Thank You.

Yes both primary vet and oncologist did say the prednisolone very likely decreased the size of the mass partially. The initial ultrasound revealed a 3.7cm mass size but in second ultrasound 2 weeks later, it went down to 3.0cm. So it definitely decreassed in size. Again the only partial good thing I had going is that it hasn't spread to the lymph nodes per the biopsy taken of that too. But whether its just a matter of time...which seems to be the case because its a very malignant type of cancer.

As for his overall health, he honestly still seems like his normal self except for the time he does his stool, he struggles still to do so because of that mass Im sure. Eating wise, seems like after the biopsy surgery so far last Saturday, he has been eating definitely well and little more then he was prior to the biopsy. Before the biopsy, I even had him on Mirtazapine to help him eat more, but now without mirtazapine and he has his appetite. Even eating some dry food too again. The grinding noise level seems to be down and somewhat less, and I did notice he does take larger bites now into his pate food, but as he chews that Pate, Im thinking it gets stuck around his gums or something so he still chews awkardly, just less noise from the grinding. Just sounds like his front bigger tooth just clash a bit as he chews.
 

daftcat75

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Hello Daft,

Thank You.

Yes both primary vet and oncologist did say the prednisolone very likely decreased the size of the mass partially. The initial ultrasound revealed a 3.7cm mass size but in second ultrasound 2 weeks later, it went down to 3.0cm. So it definitely decreassed in size. Again the only partial good thing I had going is that it hasn't spread to the lymph nodes per the biopsy taken of that too. But whether its just a matter of time...which seems to be the case because its a very malignant type of cancer.

As for his overall health, he honestly still seems like his normal self except for the time he does his stool, he struggles still to do so because of that mass Im sure. Eating wise, seems like after the biopsy surgery so far last Saturday, he has been eating definitely well and little more then he was prior to the biopsy. Before the biopsy, I even had him on Mirtazapine to help him eat more, but now without mirtazapine and he has his appetite. Even eating some dry food too again. The grinding noise level seems to be down and somewhat less, and I did notice he does take larger bites now into his pate food, but as he chews that Pate, Im thinking it gets stuck around his gums or something so he still chews awkardly, just less noise from the grinding. Just sounds like his front bigger tooth just clash a bit as he chews.
So you may not get a remission. But if the pred and chemo arrest the growth, then perhaps you'll get many more good months to come before you have to make that quality of life decision. I would add Miralax to his food to help him pass his stool more easily. I don't remember how much. You should be able to find that either here on TCS or elsewhere online easily enough.

Extractions are tricky and cats are so dang tough. You'll never know how much pain he was eating through because he'd never tell you. Cats don't complain about their teeth. He's probably much happier now at meal times. But depending on which teeth they took, and especially if they took one or more canines (the fangs), he might have an awkward bite. He could also be biting into the opposing lip or gum. In this way, he might be compensating to avoid this and that's why his chewing might look awkward. I would normally recommend a consultation with a dentist. But I don't know how long they think he might have yet and dentists have a notoriously long wait time for initial consultation. Two to six months is typical.
 
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miguel99nyc

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So the Surgeon and my primary vet will discuss the options if the mass can be removed on Monday then surgeon will call me to discuss. If it isn't possible then I guess only choice would be to try the medication.

Oddly I spoke to my primary vet today about it and he said "I wouldn't hang my hat on it" on the Palladia. He mentioned that its primarily used for dogs to treat mast cell tumors in dogs and that its still experimental for cats. So that now shook me a bit beacuse I'm still hesitant as now both the vet and surgeon offer to do surgery - obvious vet is ALOT cheaper, but the risk of that periontitis occuring is very scarry stuff. I know it isn't gauranteed to occur but the fact that tehre still that chance is very scary. Secondly, both oncologist and primary vet say even with the surgery-resection and anastomosis, its still not guaranteed it will cure him, just give him a good shot a long term cure. But I feel like all this is just for a Maybe or a Hope + investing in so much money on him. Sure I got the money renewed because insurance policy is renewed, but the fact that the risks are far greater with this resection surgery seems may be rather dangerous to perform.

But now the other issue is that Palladia doctor said he wouldn't trust it as its used for dogs. As mentioned before, there arent many if any, good oncologists in NYC area apparently so I took my chance with this one oncologist. If Palladia will shrink the mass only and not really kill off the cells (online it says Palladia is NOT chemotherapy?) then I may be better off with just giving him prednisolone no? I will wait until surgeon calls me Monday but then I'd try to speak to Oncologist to speak maybe of other medication possibly? Im just hesitant on this one medication and wished there were other proven/non experimental medication to at least try...and Im afraid if I try to ask the Oncologist that, he will just throw a fit or just react in a pissed off mood since he seems way too serious about all this, like no real emotion or anything,.

And I was wondering if there's a way to change the title/header of this thread? Maybe if I changed it from Pancreatitis to now Colorectal Carcinoma, others might have more input? I tried doing so much research on this but can't really find one place that talks about medication treatment other then just surgery.
 
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