- Joined
- Nov 11, 2014
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Hello everyone. I have read some Lymphoma related posts on here so forgive me for starting a new thread.
Last week I finally found out what was wrong with my kitty. He's a 9.5 yr old domestic short hair. He had been exhibiting respiratory problems for about 3 months. He started with reverse sneezing, that turned into regular sneezing, which turned into a secondary bacterial ear infection, and eventually he began making an awful snorting type noise. I took him to 2 vets (I wanted a 2nd opinion), but the first vet took Xrays and basically concurred with his primary vet. I like my primary vet very much. He was just as baffled by my cat's respiratory issues as much as I was as a frustrated pet owner. We treated him empirically for allergies, bacterial, and viral problems... I bought Sentry pheronome plug ins to ease any environmental stressors... we did everything!
After boarding my guy at his vet (we had to board him bc he's very difficult to administer antibiotics), and after my vet's last attempt to alleviate the problem via different specific antibiotic shots -my vet said it was time to take him to a specialist. A CT Scan revealed soft tissue in his nasal and near eye area -which the biopsy revealed was small cell Lymphoma. Over the course of the 3 months we tried steroid shots twice, combined with antibiotics to "boost" his ability to fight off what ailed him, but at the time we didnt know was small cell Lymphoma.
So he had two steroid shots that seemed "miraculous", he went from sick as ever, to seemingly back to normal. Since the diagnosis last week, I took him in for his 3rd steroid shot and again, he's back to loving life, no healthy problems or symptoms visible.
So I was wondering if anyone can share their Lymphoma stories, or lend some advice? Money is becoming an issue bc after 3 months of treatment, and a very expensive Specialists extensive tests, Im not able to spend money on IV Chemo nor Radiation (secondly, I think those treatments would affect my cat's wuality of life as he hates car rides and I cant see 2x's a week chemo or radiation visits making him a happy camper.
Im wondering if we caught it early enough for him to be responsive to the Steroid + Leukeran (Chlorambucil) type treatments Ive read so much about? I cant afford an Oncologist, but my vet is so great he is going to devise a treatment plan w/ the aforementioned med/steroid.
My guy is VERY difficult to for eg., administer meds orally. The only time I was able to do it was when he was in so much pain, no steroid shot to ease swelling, he let me administer his paid meds.
Im cautiously optimistic, but Ive read about some cats exhibiting complete remission for 5+ years! Again, my guy is only 9.5 yrs, and he had steroids administered early on, as well as currently. He has tremendous "fight" and he has an excellent quality of life as long as he has steroids in his system.
Does anyone have any advice for dosing kitties their Leukeran and Oral steroids for the "resistant" type patients? My vet is going to have some meds made into an edible treat, but Im not sure if that can be done for the Leukeran (I know steroids can be made into treat like foods).
Any success stories, advice, even the not so successful stories would be welcomed. Im really scared for my guy as I know its probably just a few more days before his last steroid shot wears off. Its remarkable how fast steroids help, but conversely, how fast they wear-off.
Thank you all for your time and help. I apologize for starting a new thread (especially as a Newbie), but most of the posts Ive read about Lymphoma see Gastro related. My kitty has it in an isolated area, small cell, and he's been relatively healthy his whole life (well, at least for the four years Ive had him -he was a stray who moved in with me, and I couldnt find his owners). He's my first pet that's my sole responsibility, so Im taking it pretty hard but trying to stay positive.
Thanks again, and Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Last week I finally found out what was wrong with my kitty. He's a 9.5 yr old domestic short hair. He had been exhibiting respiratory problems for about 3 months. He started with reverse sneezing, that turned into regular sneezing, which turned into a secondary bacterial ear infection, and eventually he began making an awful snorting type noise. I took him to 2 vets (I wanted a 2nd opinion), but the first vet took Xrays and basically concurred with his primary vet. I like my primary vet very much. He was just as baffled by my cat's respiratory issues as much as I was as a frustrated pet owner. We treated him empirically for allergies, bacterial, and viral problems... I bought Sentry pheronome plug ins to ease any environmental stressors... we did everything!
After boarding my guy at his vet (we had to board him bc he's very difficult to administer antibiotics), and after my vet's last attempt to alleviate the problem via different specific antibiotic shots -my vet said it was time to take him to a specialist. A CT Scan revealed soft tissue in his nasal and near eye area -which the biopsy revealed was small cell Lymphoma. Over the course of the 3 months we tried steroid shots twice, combined with antibiotics to "boost" his ability to fight off what ailed him, but at the time we didnt know was small cell Lymphoma.
So he had two steroid shots that seemed "miraculous", he went from sick as ever, to seemingly back to normal. Since the diagnosis last week, I took him in for his 3rd steroid shot and again, he's back to loving life, no healthy problems or symptoms visible.
So I was wondering if anyone can share their Lymphoma stories, or lend some advice? Money is becoming an issue bc after 3 months of treatment, and a very expensive Specialists extensive tests, Im not able to spend money on IV Chemo nor Radiation (secondly, I think those treatments would affect my cat's wuality of life as he hates car rides and I cant see 2x's a week chemo or radiation visits making him a happy camper.
Im wondering if we caught it early enough for him to be responsive to the Steroid + Leukeran (Chlorambucil) type treatments Ive read so much about? I cant afford an Oncologist, but my vet is so great he is going to devise a treatment plan w/ the aforementioned med/steroid.
My guy is VERY difficult to for eg., administer meds orally. The only time I was able to do it was when he was in so much pain, no steroid shot to ease swelling, he let me administer his paid meds.
Im cautiously optimistic, but Ive read about some cats exhibiting complete remission for 5+ years! Again, my guy is only 9.5 yrs, and he had steroids administered early on, as well as currently. He has tremendous "fight" and he has an excellent quality of life as long as he has steroids in his system.
Does anyone have any advice for dosing kitties their Leukeran and Oral steroids for the "resistant" type patients? My vet is going to have some meds made into an edible treat, but Im not sure if that can be done for the Leukeran (I know steroids can be made into treat like foods).
Any success stories, advice, even the not so successful stories would be welcomed. Im really scared for my guy as I know its probably just a few more days before his last steroid shot wears off. Its remarkable how fast steroids help, but conversely, how fast they wear-off.
Thank you all for your time and help. I apologize for starting a new thread (especially as a Newbie), but most of the posts Ive read about Lymphoma see Gastro related. My kitty has it in an isolated area, small cell, and he's been relatively healthy his whole life (well, at least for the four years Ive had him -he was a stray who moved in with me, and I couldnt find his owners). He's my first pet that's my sole responsibility, so Im taking it pretty hard but trying to stay positive.
Thanks again, and Happy Thanksgiving to you all!