Buddy diagnosed with lymphoma

A lump I found in Buddy's neck has been determined to be large cell lymphoma. He has had a lingering nasal drip that the vet thinks is also probably due to the cancer. Additionally, she said his lungs "did not sound great" and suspects the cancer is probably also in his lungs although he shows no obvious signs of compromised lungs at this point.

Obviously, this is not the news I had hoped for and I am heartbroken. I have waited several days to post this because I have been so emotional with this poor cat receiving another diagnosis. He can't catch a break.

The concern now becomes treatment. My vet said her first approach would typically be to try prednisone but that she does not want to go that route because of his diabetes. I know I have seen at least one person on here that DID treat and manage a diabetic cat that was taking prednisone for lymphoma. My vet was also going to talk to the vet about chemo pills but wasn't too eager to push me in that direction.

Buddy is at least 15 years old. I know with large cell lymphoma, life expectancy is not great. My goal is to keep him comfortably living as long as possible without pursuing IV chemo.

Do any of you have experience with this that you an share? I want the good and bad details; no candy coating. Buddy has already been challenging to regulate so adding prednisone to his daily regimen does concern me a bit but I'm not sure that I will have a choice other than just doing nothing.

 

I don't have any advise for you except for this: get prednisolone, not prednisone. Prednisone is converted to prednisolone in cat's bodies so it's easier if you eliminate the middleman and get prednisolone.

 

Oh Kelly, I am so sorry to hear about Buddy's diagnosis. I don't have any advice, but I wanted to send you these: Sending vines for Buddy as well.

 

So sorry about the news. Sending feel better vines for Buddy.

Don’t worry about the prednisolone impacting his blood sugars, you can always raise the insulin dose. The pred will probably make him feel better and that’s what is most important now.

I seem to remember @Tricia Cinco(GA) & Harvey might have dealt with this kind before. I have treated for small cell lymphoma but it’s a different treatment than for large cell. Kitties seem to handle chemo relatively well, as long as they get anti nausea drugs.

 

I have no advise but want to say how sorry I am to hear this, sending many prayers your way

 

Thank you for this information. I am not familiar with prednisolone but I did some reading after seeing your comment and that is great advice. I consider my vet a great cat vet but I'm pretty sure she has always used prednisone for my cats in the past. I will definitely ask her for the prednisolone!

 

Thanks, Wendy. That is kind of my thought as well. Keep him comfortable with the steroids. He's either going to lose the battle to the cancer more quickly without the pred or deal with bouncing sugar levels with the pred. Quite frankly, I feel like he bounces all the time anyway so I'm prepared to deal with it.

 

Well crap crap crap...I'm sorry Kelly. BIG huge loooooooong hug - sucks. I second using Prednisilone and shooting around it...

 

:'(

 

Oh Kelly...I am so very sorry to hear this news. I know nothing about large cell carcinoma and I hope those that do will weigh in. Meantime I am sending you and Buddy lots of vines of healing and comfort.

 

Yes prednisilone is what you want. There is a debate on whether cats can convert prednisone to prednisilone but the latter is the form they can metabolize.

I used prednisilone for Gracie who had SCL of the intestines. I did have to increase her dose as she started seeing pinks and even some reds which she had only done twice in the very first of over five years as FD. It might make him thirstier and gain some weight but with LCL, and I’ve had a divvied cat with it, you want to keep them comfy. My LCL kitty did respond well to chemo. She passed not from the cancer but from a pulmonary embolism which I understand is common in elder cats (she was 18) with comorbidities.

Tons of vines for you and Buddy. I’m so sorry about the dx.

 

So sorry about Buddy’s diagnosis. I had a civvie kitty with a brain tumor. Steroids helped her a lot for a while. I don’t remember exactly what kind of steroid she got though. and prayers for you and Buddy.

 

Thanks for all your encouraging words and experiences. I will keep you updated and you'll probably see me posting for thoughts about dose increases if his BG starts skyrocketing. Dreading this next and final chapter in Mr. Buddy's life.

This is, without question, the hardest part of having and loving pets. Sometimes I was wish one of those people who can just say, "Oh, it's just a cat". I think to people like all of us on here, they are so much more than a pet. For me, they are family members.

 

I am so sorry to hear of Buddy's diagnosis. Sending prayers for you and Buddy.

 

Kelly I had been thinking about you since I hadn't seen you post about how the vet visit went.
I am so sorry that you didn't get better news.

Keeping your little guy comfortable and happy is what it's all about, you can take the dose up if you need to.
Sending prayers vines and lots of hugs

 

I'm so sorry to hear this. I don't know anything about lymphoma, but I've had some civvies that had other types of cancer. I can tell you what I learned from that. It is not easy to do, but just try to take it one day at a time and not think about tomorrow. Make the most of each day and love on him as much as you can. There will be good days and bad days. I hope you can keep him feeling good and have many more good days. Sending prayers.

 

Oh Kelly I'm so very sorry to hear of this diagnosis for Buddy. He and Luci have a special bond with all their contraband antics. I've gotten many a laugh from your descriptions of that determined little guy - always getting into stuff.

I'm sending special prayers and hugs for you both.

 

I'm so sorry you received this bad news.

 

I'm so sorry your Buddy has this diagnosis and you're going through this ordeal. Making the choices can be as awful as dealing with the disease.

I believe the average life expectancy is about a month. Pred should make him feel better and extends that time slightly. Fluid therapy may help also if indicated. I've used pred on an OTJ diabetic kitty with no effect on his bg.

I've used oral chemo with success (2 more years) but I think it's only supposed to be effective for small-cell lymphoma.

IV Chemo works for 50-70% of cats and extends average life expectancy to 6-9 months. However, it means a day at the vet every week for months, with blood tests, observation, and the infusion, and of course is very expensive. Whether the hope of several more months justifies the stress on cat and person is a choice only the pet parent can make. In my experience with one cat, the IV chemo helped her for a week and after that did little or nothing. She became more and more anemic and left us about six weeks later.

 

Camille, thank you SO much for sharing this. I've done nothing but read about large-cell lymphoma for the past week and what you've written supports what I've read. Even if it were inexpensive, I'm not sure I would choose IV chemo to only give him 6-9 more months. My mom also had a cat with SCL that went through a full course of oral and IV chemo and did not respond. They wanted her to go through a second round but she was so emotionally drained and felt so bad about what the cat had dealt with that she refused additional chemo treatment.

I am hoping to start the steroids this weekend. So far, he shows no sign of discomfort and certainly has no loss of appetite or energy. When he stops eating, that will be a major red flag.

 

So sorry to hear about Buddy. I have no experience with lymphoma but do have recent experience with prednisolone. One of my civies has some form of undetermined internal cancer (abdominal mass) - due to his age (19+) and already failing kidneys we opted for the prednisolone and just keeping him comfortable. The day after starting his pred, he seemed like a different cat - more active, good appetite, follows me around, talks to me and appears to be more comfortable which is exactly what we hoped for. We are pleased with the better quality of life the pred has given him - we know it won't last but for now he is doing great.

 

19!!! What a wonderful long life for a cat! Glad you have seen such dramatic improvement with you cat. I hope it provides some similar benefits to my Buddy.

 

{{{Kelly}}}

I'm so sorry to hear about your beloved Buddy's diagnosis. I know your heart is absolutely breaking right now. Been there.

In 2015 all four of my elderly cats were diagnosed with some kind of cancer - three of them with small cell lymphoma and one with injection site sarcoma.

Harvey had intestinal lymphoma and was put on prednisolone. That led to diabetes. They had him on a fairly high dose of Pred and he was doing well with his appetite, etc., but once he became diabetic they lowered the dose and his FD became much more manageable. He was also on oral chemo. His cancer became stable and his FD regulated, but I lost him a month past his 17th birthday to CKD.

Cinco, the kitty in my avatar, was already diabetic. He had ocular lymphoma, which cost him an eye. We got rid of that, but it came back in his nasal passages. We did chemo, which he tolerated well and beat it back, but about six months later it came back and took him from me. I'm sorry I don't recall if we ever gave him Pred. I don't think so, but that year was so emotional and difficult that my memory of some things is foggy.

I also had a civvie, Minka, who had renal lymphoma. Chemo took care of that, but then she got lung cancer and only made it through a couple of chemo treatments. She did not get Pred.

My fourth kitty, civvie Sasha, lost her right front leg to cancer. We did radiation and chemo. She tolerated both well, but then she started having complications from the radiation and they believe that's what led to her crossing the bridge. She did not get Pred.

Looking back, I do wonder if chemo was always the best option for all of them. I put them through an awful lot. If I had it to do over, I might opt out on the second or third round and do as you have chosen - to keep him or her comfortable. Each situation is different, of course.

The important thing is that you are making the decisions that you feel are in Buddy's best interest. No one knows or loves him more than you do.

 

It doesn't matter what you decided to do - any decision you make will be RIGHT because it's been made with LOVE. Good luck with whichever treatment you settle on.

 

Dear Kelly,
I am so sorry to read this news about Buddy. I know that your love for him will determine what course of action you take. I'm sorry not to be able to help much with the Pred. Rusty got Pred in transdermal form last January for his breathing/sinus problems (which had gotten much worse). The pred. was a disaster: he got very weak after only 2 applications, could hardly walk, and fell down the stairs. We discontinued the pred immediately and he recovered his strength. But ECID, and many people here have had good results with pred.

Sending many beautiful vines for your boy, and vines of comfort for you.