My lovely Katie has cancer

Hi to all. This is my first posting - I've seen how great and warm you people are on this site in offering support ...and I'd like to share with you the bad news I had yesterday about my gorgeous black rescue cat Katie who will be 20 in January. Despite being hyperthyyroid,(successfully treated with felimazole) hypertensive,(successfully treated with amlodipine) and with compromised kidneys ( successfully treqated with renalzin and fortekor) and having had 5 teeth out last January, she has continued to be a very happy, affectionate indoor cat with a strong little personality and a penchant for cuttle fish cake and watching "Autumnwatch" on telly! (We are in the UK). She has regular blood checks and on 9 Nov all was well with her haematology, save for a slightly elevated ALK which has been present for a while and vet said nothing to worry about given her age.

For the past week she has been vomiting around once a day - sometimes it is a furball, other times undigested food, though she has been happy and purring within minutes. The vet at Liverpool small animal practice , ( she is the best vet I've ever come across) felt slightly enlarged lymph nodes in Katie's tummy on palpation, so we decided on an ultrasound. I was devastated to be told that Katie has a 1cm intestinal mass and also abnormalities in her liver and spleen suggestive of malignancy. Three needle biopsies have been taken and I await the results tomorrow.

Wow .... I am numb. If it is localised just to the intestine then thay can offer chemo and surgery - however if there are metastases to liver and spleen then the prognosis is much poorer. There is a small chance that the abnormalities in spleen and liver could be just benign and age -related. I do not want to get my hopes up though. I'm in the medical profession so I guess that's why I'm able to describe the symptoms in a relatively clinical manner .....but when I consider the possibility of being without my wonderful, soft and feisty little girl my heart wants to explode. She has lost some weight but is still very happy and eating well and playing. Thankfully she is unaware of my angst. Thank you for letting me share this. has anybody been through the same thing?

Thank you all for your warm replies and best wishes. It really is great to talk to other cat lovers! As tomorrow looms and I dread the 'phone call from the vet, Katie is quite oblivious and has just jumped up onto the window sill to watch a pair of graceful swans glide across the river! 

 GOOD NEWS ABOUT MY AMAZING LITTLE KATIE!!!!!! Just spoken to vet - the biopsy results are not entirely conclusive yet and the samples have been passed to another consultant for a second opinion - we'll know more tomorrow but it looks like her liver and spleen are ok!!!!!!!! HURRAH!!!! There is still an abnormality in the ileum though, but hopefully this could possibly be removed surgically and Katie put on some chemo. I'm not getting my hopes up but it looks positive - I've been so on edge all day that I've done what I always do when stressed - clean the flat - it's now sparkling!!!!!! I'd like to thank everybody for their very kind and hearfelt good wishes and I'll keep you all posted - meanwhile Katie hasn't been sick since 2am Sunday, she's happy, purring and as black and beautiful as ever!!!! Purrs and hugs to you all xxx

Update on Katie - good news but some uncertainty !  advice appreciated!  There is no sign of cancer in liver or spleen which is great - however the cytology results on cells from intestine are "inconclusive" in that the mass/abnormality gave insufficient cells to reach a diagnosis. However the ultrasonographer was "confident" that he was looking at an intestinal tumour when he did the needle aspiration biopsies on intestine, spleen and liver. He did say that he was undecided about liver and spleen and that the abnormalities could be age - related and indeed that appears to be so. We have 2 options  - monitor Katie and see how she goes or subject her to an operation for removal of the mass, intestinal resection and a subsequent biopsy of mass so we would know what it was. Katie has now not been sick for 9 days - she is eating well, happy and purring and her normal self! that makes it all the more difficult to put her through an op at present! Apparently endoscopy can't be done because the problem is in the ileum which is not accessible via endoscopy. The cytology was done twice by different people and both times was inconclusive. As far as I am concerned Katie is asymptomatic at present though she has lost some weight so this is something which will be monitored next week when we take her to the vets. I would like to know what others think and if anybody else has had results whuch were of an inconclusive nature. The vet feels that Katie's vomiting symptoms ( which made me take her to the vets in the first instance) could have been furball related and not connected to the abnormal finding in the intestine . I asked if she could perhaps have IBD but was told probably not as the intestinal lumen was clear and this would normally be inflamed in IBD. I also asked if Katie had maybe had this " abnormality" since birth but was told that the ultrasonographer thought that unlikely. Advice and comments gratefully appreciated - meanwhile Katie is tucking into a plate of poached salmon fillet in butter !

Update on Katie - good news but some uncertainty ! advice appreciated! There is no sign of cancer in liver or spleen which is great - however the cytology results on cells from intestine are "inconclusive" in that the mass/abnormality gave insufficient cells to reach a diagnosis. However the ultrasonographer was "confident" that he was looking at an intestinal tumour when he did the needle aspiration biopsies on intestine, spleen and liver. He did say that he was undecided about liver and spleen and that the abnormalities could be age - related and indeed that appears to be so. We have 2 options - monitor Katie and see how she goes or subject her to an operation for removal of the mass, intestinal resection and a subsequent biopsy of mass so we would know what it was. Katie has now not been sick for 9 days - she is eating well, happy and purring and her normal self! that makes it all the more difficult to put her through an op at present! Apparently endoscopy can't be done because the problem is in the ileum which is not accessible via endoscopy. The cytology was done twice by different people and both times was inconclusive. As far as I am concerned Katie is asymptomatic at present though she has lost some weight so this is something which will be monitored next week when we take her to the vets. I would like to know what others think and if anybody else has had results whuch were of an inconclusive nature. The vet feels that Katie's vomiting symptoms ( which made me take her to the vets in the first instance) could have been furball related and not connected to the abnormal finding in the intestine . I asked if she could perhaps have IBD but was told probably not as the intestinal lumen was clear and this would normally be inflamed in IBD. I also asked if Katie had maybe had this " abnormality" since birth but was told that the ultrasonographer thought that unlikely. Advice and comments gratefully appreciated - meanwhile Katie is tucking into a plate of poached salmon fillet in butter !

thanks Laurie for your very informative reply -  you basically echo all my concerns exactly! I asked the vet what she'd do if it were her cat and she said that really she'd want a specific diagnosis - and I tend to agree. The vet said that Katie's age should not be a preclusion to surgery - she is a physically strong cat ( had 5 teeth out 10 months ago and was playing within an hour of coming round from anaesthetic!) she is on tablets for hyperthyroidism, hypertension, and renal insufficiency along with renalzin as a "phosphorous mopper-upper". she has regular bloodwork and all her haematology is in normal range for her age. She is a very laid back cat and although I don't know any cat who enjoys going to vets , she takes it all in her stride and is very placid. As she was recovering from her ultrasound last week, the vet told me she was purring away in their " cat ward" - though I suspect this may have been the effects of the buprenorphine! Tablets are no problem as she has them in butter, ham, clotted cream, philadelphia cheese etc! I am going to enquire further about the less invasive endoscopic biopsy as it seems that some vets feel that it is possible to examine the ileum. Our vet is excellent though she freely admits that intestinal physiology is not her forte, so I may get a referral to a specialist - either an oncologist or a GI specialist. As you say if this is a malignancy I want to "nip it in the bud" before It gets worse. Of course there is the risk of peritonitis from any intestinal op - regardless of the animal's age. It's a dilemma - Katie, i wish I could ask you what I should do!!! Thanks again Laurie for your support and big purrs to Lazlo who is doing so well xxx