Kitty with lymphoma

[Gray_Horse_H_J]

Hi all. I’m posting to see who here has dealt with lymphoma in cats.

A few weeks ago my 12 year old kitty underwent exploratory abdominal surgery because we thought he was eating foreign objects again. Yes, again. Kitty has an extensive history of eating foreign objects, despite being as diligent as possible at keeping them away from him. His symptoms were the same, his x-rays were suspicious, and given his history it seemed reasonable to assume that’s what we were dealing with. Turns out he wasn’t eating foreign stuff (good kitty!), but he did have some inflamed organs. A few days later biopsy results revealed lymphoma in his intestinal tract.

I was a crying, hysterical, ridiculous mess for the better part of a week because I thought I was going to lose him. He was at the hospital for a few days because the vets’ big concern was that he wasn’t eating or drinking. They finally taught me to force feed him, and sent him home.

Anyway, that was a few weeks ago. He’s pretty much his normal self now, although much pickier about food. He won’t eat dry food, and he’ll only eat certain wet foods. But at least he’s eating. He’s on Prednisone, and the vet mentioned a chemo drug (Chlorambucil? I may not be spelling that right), but he hasn’t started it yet. The vet wanted to make sure he was eating on his own first before introducing the other drug. I’ll be talking to the vet more about it this week though, since his eating habits are mostly back on track.

I’m worried about him though. I’m crazy attached to this cat. I’ve had him since he was a wee kitten. I’ve had him my whole adult life - I was 17 when we got him. He literally follows me around my apartment constantly. He’s not the super cuddly type (God help you if you pick him up) but he sleeps on my stomach every night while I watch TV. He’s been referred to as Satan on more than a few occasions :lol: but I love him like he’s my kid. I’m sad that I may not have much time left with him. I don’t want to come home one day and find him suddenly deathly sick.

For those who have dealt with this in cats, any tips? Advice? Things to know? I’ve Googled like a madwoman, I have two friends who are vet techs, and the animal hospital I use is very good, but I still like hearing from others who have experience.

[SquishTheBunny]

Sorry to hear about your kitty

I see this on a regular basis, GI lymphoma in cats is pretty common (I also have had a cat with it, and one currently does too).

There’s different options available. Have you talked with an oncologist or internal medicine specialist?

Vincristine usually works quite well with GI lymphoma in cats. We have one cat who get it that is on year 4 of treatment (he just gets an injection once monthly).

Chlorambucil is a chemo drug that you can give at home. Often times in conjunction with vincristine and prednisone - this is your “top treatment”. Regardless if you give it or your vet gives it, you should have CBC’s run to ensure the white cell count is high enough to tolerate these immunosuppressing drugs.

Prednisone alone can be effective as well, but is basically just dealing with the inflammation not attacking the cancer cells. Its the easiest to do because you just give it once daily, and its super cheap. Most of the time in the short term cats do get significantly better with it. I lucked out with my first cat, where I just opted for prednisone…he lived close to 2 years - however I did have him on a ridiculously high dose (20mg) throughout most of that time.

There are also other drugs that can help him feel a little better, symptomatic drugs such as cerenia, metoclopramide, metronidazole and famotidine.

its unfortunate that they went right to surgery without doing an ultrasound/scope. (Lymphoma is very classic on ultrasound). Its not wise to start chemo (or high dose prednisone) until 7+ days after surgery due to risk of infection.

Jingles that your kitty does well with whatever treatment you choose!

[Gray_Horse_H_J]

Thanks for the info!

The vet did mention he would need regular bloodwork if we treat with Chlorambucil. There was no mention of any of the other drugs you listed. His surgery was close to a month ago, so hopefully we’d be in the clear as far as infection goes if we start another drug.

I really beat myself up over the surgery decision when we discovered we’d done it for no reason. I gave the go ahead for surgery because he was showing all the same symptoms as he had in the past when he had a belly full of “stuff”. He’s had surgery twice in the past, and both times the vet took out a whole mess of crap he had swallowed. So when the x-rays had suspicious findings on them and the vet asked about during surgery, I went with it. Thankfully he seems fully recovered from that, but the first day was rough.

Thanks again for your reply, I will do some research and talk to the vet about the other meds you mentioned.

[SquishTheBunny]

That’s good to hear, its never wrong to do surgery - you got surgical biopsies that gave you an answer - so don’t beat yourself up over it! Its more invasive for sure, but it sounds like your cat is a pro at surgical recoveries

Vincristine is an IV chemotherapy drug. Im surprised your vet wouldn’t mention it, but it could be because general practitioners don’t generally offer it. Many times its done at a referral center where proper storage and trained staff are used. Its not all that pricey, and side effects are generally not seen at all with kitties.

The other drugs I mentioned are all GI symptomatic drugs, so have no battle against the cancer, but they can help ease the symptoms. I would most definitely request a referral to an oncologist or internal medicine specialist to discuss all your options. Theres about 10001 out there, and what is right for one cat may not be right for another.