10 yo cat fluid on lungs, chf, high protein

[Beethoven]

I’m sorry for your diagnosis of your cat. I had a patient recently that I diagnosed with the same based on cytology of pleural effusion. He had a visible mass on radiographs. Owners opted to go to oncologist. The oncologist put patient on prednisone to see if that helped his quality of life before starting chemo. Unfortunately, he died a few short days after seeing the oncologist. He was 10 years old I believe and completely healthy until one day he started to breath heavy. He presented like an ashma cat and owners want to try medical therapy before radiographs, so we did a short acting steroid shot and he was okay for awhile but within 2 weeks went downhill again and within 2 weeks of that he had passed.

I hope your boy sticks around longer.

[Coyoteco]

Thank you all. Yes, I agree that 10 is young for a cat. The cats my mother raised lived well into their 20’s, with one living to 26.

Beethoven, when my daughter talked to our vet, the vet mentioned prednisone, but said that Caspian was not a good candidate for that. They then went with an NSAID.

I’m interested to know, though, about the use of steroids in cancer. From my very lay position, I had always thought that steroids tended to exacerbate cancers.

[TC3200]

Jingles! Sorry to hear about about the diagnosis. I hope they can make him more comfortable and slow the progress of the cancer.

[SquishTheBunny]

Steroids usually work well by working on the immune system - therefore alleviating the effects of cancer. Not a cure, but usually animals feel significantly better on steroids for some time period. My cat lived 2 years with starting steroids (lymphoma). Cats tend to tolerate steroids better than NSAIDS for the most part, so unsure why your cat isn’t a candidate. Dogs are typically the opposite.

[Coyoteco]

Interesting. I just remember the ideas about steroids and cancer in people in the “olden days”. Perhaps it has to do with humans or perhaps steroids have changed or perhaps medical ideas have changed. Way back then, one of the concerns about Prednisone was that it would speed up the progress of cancer in humans.

The vet and my daughter discussed the pred and the vet specifically said that pred would not be suitable for this cat because Caspian has hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy and a low heart beat with an arrhythmia. Perhaps it needs to be revisited.

The other vet never mentioned prednisone for the other cat - the female with mammary cancer, either. This cat is still doing very well, though.

Hm.

[Pancakes]

I agree – prednisone is contraindicated in heart disease. Dexamethasone may be more suitable as it has no mineralocorticoid activity to create more stress on the heart and alter blood pressure as much.

Rock and a hard place. Sometimes you have to just pick which disease is going to progress faster and treat that one.

[Coyoteco]

The drug that was prescribed for Caspian is Onsior - a half dose. He has started it, and he immediately felt better. (keep check on kidneys and watch water intake) It is used more freely in Europe, apparently, than it is here.

Now, there was no steroid or NSAID prescribed for Vina (the 9 yo cat with mammary tumors) but my daughter started her on two things: one was the curcumin and one was a mushroom extract that is supposed to be an anti-oxidant. She has not acted like she was the least bit sick. I wonder if she should have something else.

I really appreciate all of the information that you all have provided.

[Coyoteco]

So, this is just a bit of an update. Caspian seems to be doing pretty well. We talked to the vet about dexamethasone and she said that we may go to that in the future. She wanted to stay with the Onsior for now. That said, he is getting the turmeric extract curcumin and doesn’t get the Onsior much. That was more of a bridge until the curcumin built up a little in his system. He seems to be feeling better and better, rather than worse. He’s comfortable, more energetic, and his weight (perhaps I should say body condition rather than weight) and hair quality are improved. His breathing remains pretty good and he is on his heart meds. We took him in for new blood work, and everything looked OK - a little inflammation which was to be expected. The good thing is that it is easy to tell how he is feeling. He even rolled over on his back and relaxed that way one day - which was his favorite position before the heart problems. If he is uncomfortable at all, he doesn’t do that.

So, I’ll do periodic updates. I’m a little optimistic that he’ll have some good months - or even more. Vina is going on 10 healthy, happy, playful months with an original prognosis of six weeks. Of course, one can never tell when things will go bad.