8 year old cat diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Lymphoma..Help.?

Question

It took 3 weeks, 4 days at K-State Hospital, and several tests/bloodwork and a biopsy to finally get the correct diagnosis but, he does have cancer. We are heartbroken. He is on steroids 10 mg a day and he had to have a feeding tube in just until he eats on his own. They say he will live a year. Chemo pills are $3.95 a pill. Not bad at all and we are doing that too. He is upbeat most of the time, no throwing up, but a big lack of appetite and lethargy. Is there something else we can be doing.

Please, this is a beloved pet. Serious answers only please. The cat is not suffering and is the king of the house right now. Anyone with anymore advice? Maybe something that worked for you and your pet?

Thanks.

This is for "Man in a Mine" and "Burly_Red",
The two idiots who were quick to answer without thinking.....most probably as in their everyday lives. Please try to refrain from commenting on this forum. Thank you.

For everyone else who answered so quickly, thanks for your input and expressions of concern.

Answer 1

I have two cats with cancer and belong to Yahoo groups where members are facing this disease with their cats. Go to Yahoogroups.com and join a group. There you can discuss all the issues and concerns with other members and receive support from them about your cat.

Answer 2

I can really appreciate what you are going through and my heart goes out to you. I have two cats and they mean the world me. I have lost other pets to cancer and it was not a pleasant experience. I had a dog who had cancer and I gave her Chemo and just like your cat she was lethargic and had no appetite. There was no way I could stimulate her. I figured she knew what she needed. I just stayed with her continually until nothing further could be done. You are lucky that the doctors have said she can live a year. Make the most of your time together and you will know that you have done everything within your power for your beloved animal. I will keep you in my thoughts.

Answer 3

I am sorry to hear about your beloved cat.

My cat Blackie was also diagnosed with gastrointestinal lymphoma about 7 years ago. We had caught it early, my vet was in tuned enough to Blackie to do an endoscopy and found the cancer lesion in his stomach. He said that he believed that he caught it early enough for us to seriously think about chemotherapy, which we did. He was on chemotherapy at the specialist, Vincrystine (given at our vets office) and methotrexate pills (which we gave him). Blackie did go into remission after about a year and was cancer free for 4 years. The cancer came back though with a vengenance and we needed to put our beloved Blackie out of misery on 11/15/2005. Oh, Blackie was 11 when he was diagnosed.

I guess it would depend on the findings, how far along the cancer is, if the vet believes that doing chemotherapy is something that would benefit your cat. We have a wonderful specialty animal hospital here and my vet highly recommend them. They were wonderful and were able to give us 4 more years with our cat. It was well worth the monetary cost.

Blackie lead a normal cat life, he didn't have much lethargy, he ate like a pig (for a cat), and was otherwise healthy...damn that cancer.

Prayers to you and your baby.....

Answer 4

I know how you feel. Our beloved cat had to be put down in October because of feline kidney disease. We also were heartbroken. She was 18 years old. The only thing we could do before she died was just try and make her comfortable and pet her. I hope the chemo pill helps him to maybe live longer as long as he is not suffering. My advise would be just love him. So sorry.

Answer 5

My mothers dog had cancer that showed up as lumps in his throat. The vet also said life with Chemo anywhere from a few months to 2 years at most.

Give your cat extra Love and make it as comfortable as possible. Love will give you and your cat hope and strength.

That's about the only thing I know else to do..

Keep your eyes on it in case it starts loosing control of its bowels.


Sad to say in less then a year my mother had to put her dog down. The Cancer came back and his organs starting shutting down one by one.

I Love Cats and Dogs,they are like our furry children.
I will pray for you and your Cat.

Answer 6

I am sorry about your cat. My husband had stomach cancer last year and is doing well now. My doctors recently found what they think is a cancer on my eye. Cancer is an ugly disease for people and pets. Prayers for your little kitty.

Answer 7

This is tough to go through. There isn't anything more unless the vet can offer something more. You might want to join an animal support group. This may help you during the rough times.

Answer 8

"Investigators at the University of Alberta have recently reported that a drug previously used in humans for the treatment of rare disorders of metabolism is also able to cause tumor regression in a number of human cancers growing in animals. This drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), appears to suppress the growth of cancer cells without affecting normal cells, suggesting that it might not have the dramatic side effects of standard chemotherapies."
They are planning to test this on people soon after they receive the right funding. Check out their site, maybe your vet can get it for you. Maybe it works.

http://www.depmed.ualberta.ca/dca/

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10971-cheap-safe-drug-kills-most-cancers.html

Answer 9

i had a similar situation,the only thing i could do was make the cat as comfortable as possible,until his time was near.the cat started to get into allot of pain and i had to have it put down,i had no choice.there's an old saying you have to be cruel to be kind,this was the kindest thing i could do for my pet.

Answer 10

You say he is not suffering but how do you really know that. What worked for my pet and me was to put him to sleep, was he was loved and it hurt to see him go, but I knew that he was no longer in pain. Lack of an appetiate tells me it hurts to eat.