Eosinophilic Granular Complex/Possible Lymphoma

 I'm waiting for a call from the vet any time now to find out lab results.  I took my guy in yesterday morning after noticing what I thought was a wound on one foot.  It turns out he has lesions on both back feet due to the EGC and it looks like it's been going on for some time.  I'm so upset I missed it--he has long hair and isn't an on your lap or in your face kind of cat.  I remember seeing a foot last month and thinking it looked odd, but I rarely get a good look at his feet so I didn't think much of it. This weekend I did notice a big behavior change--he was clearly irritated by his back legs and for the first time since he was born he didn't wake me up around 4-5 am to eat and go outside.  He's sleeping a lot and purring more than usual when he's awake so I'm sure he's self-comforting.  It must be uncomfortable to walk because he keeps twitching his hind end.

He's a feisty one at the vet and they had to sedate him to get a good look at the feet. More worrisome is the lymph nodes swollen almost to the size of golf balls.  Labs were sent out and reports should be back tonight or tomorrow.  They gave him sinjections of a steroid and antibiotic. 

I found this forum when Pippin was a tiny one-week old orphan kitten that I found in the back yard and I was a clueless allergic person who was never going to have a cat.  That was 6 1/2 years ago.

Very worried. 

Oh I'm so sorry!

Please keep us posted. My kitty Lazlo was diagnosed with lymphoma last year. We opted to try chemo, and it worked out very well for him. :nod: BarbB's Toby is also undergoing chemo now - he'll be finished with the treatments in November, and he's also doing very well with the treatments, so we can help you with info if you have to make decisions. But let's hope it's just an infection! :rub:

As to the EGC... did the vet discuss the cause? Thinking now is that it can be diet related. What's he eating? There's another member, WhollyCat, who had a kitty with severe problems with EGC, and she solved them with a diet change. :nod:

LDG said:

As to the EGC... did the vet discuss the cause? Thinking now is that it can be diet related. What's he eating? There's another member, WhollyCat, who had a kitty with severe problems with EGC, and she solved them with a diet change.

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EGC can be such a hard disease to pin down what causes it (it has 3 different forms) especially if it is an allergy, so I always recommend starting with the foundation upon which a kitties health is based: diet.

My Maine Coon Maxie developed EGC in his mouth when he was a year old. Poor bubby couldn't eat. Vet wanted to give steroids, but I'm not a huge fan of steroids because of the long-term side effects and other crummy stuff from its use (but I don't totally discount its use--it just wasn't at the top of my list for Maxie). So I declined this. I was like a mad woman researching this disease. If there was any other option than steroids, I was going to try them first. So, diet came first. Switched to novel protein canned foods. No difference--his EGC was getting worse and spreading to his eyes. Poor sweet boy!

Long story short, I found a kitty forum that was on Yahoo! Groups at the time and posed my frantic, worried questions there. They suggested a raw diet. Got a recipe for a ground meat/bones/organs diet. I transitioned my two kitties (at the time--Izzy came later) in what I felt was record time to the raw diet.

Within a week Maxie was showing improvement and continued to do so until it was "gone." I did find out that there is some ingredient (or ingredients) in commercial canned foods (I didn't feed kibble) that makes Maxie's EGC come out big and bad. On our raw diet he is symptom free--and has been for the last 7 years.

I don't know if you're up for trying a raw diet or not, but even with novel protein diets Maxie did not improve. We can help if you wanted to try a raw diet.

You might try novel protein (rabbit, venison) canned foods to see if that helps, because a lot of kitties do improve on these diets. Kitties must eat only a single novel protein (e.g. rabbit OR venison) diet for a few weeks to see if it is helping.

Does your kitty have exposure to fleas (even one can bring on EGC)?

Thank you Jules for posting!

I just wanted to add.... treating the EGC with steroids vs steroid use for supporting therapy if kitty has lymphoma are two different things. :nod: A somewhat low dose of prednisolone or prednisone (5mg) is VERY typical as part of a course of treatment if a cat has lymphoma. It can really help improve their comfort. It is given at an anti-inflammatory dose, not an immune-suppressive dose. BUT... if being used to try to treat the symptoms of the EGC, the vet would be using a higher dose (e.g. an immune-suppressive dose).

So while you may want to work to figure out a "better" way to manage the EGC long term (rather than just using steroids), if your kitty does have lymphoma ( :cross: ), you will likely be using pred as supporting therapy through the course of that treatment.

LDG said:

Thank you Jules for posting!

I just wanted to add.... treating the EGC with steroids vs steroid use for supporting therapy if kitty has lymphoma are two different things.

A somewhat low dose of prednisolone or prednisone (5mg) is VERY typical as part of a course of treatment if a cat has lymphoma. It can really help improve their comfort. It is given at an anti-inflammatory dose, not an immune-suppressive dose. BUT... if being used to try to treat the symptoms of the EGC, the vet would be using a higher dose (e.g. an immune-suppressive dose).
So while you may want to work to figure out a "better" way to manage the EGC long term (rather than just using steroids), if your kitty does have lymphoma (

), you will likely be using pred as supporting therapy through the course of that treatment.

Click to expand...

  You are so right, Laurie. I forgot to differentiate between the two uses/doses, so thanks for clarifying here.   Sending and prayers that it's not lymphoma. (But if it is, we're here!)

Thank you all for the understanding, as well as sharing info and experiences.   I've been a mess, of course!

The pathology report was encouraging.  Results weren't suggestive of lymphoma and everything is pointing to the lymph nodes being enlarged due to drainage from the feet.  Pippin did wake me up at 5am this morning and headed to his food dish, plus he laid around in incovenient places all morning (never thought I'd be thrilled over that. but I was).  Best off all, he brought up a freshly killed sock from the laundry room to present to me, which I know took a lot of energy. He spent most of the day crashed out in the living room and is looking pretty zapped tonight again.  He's still twitching when walking so the lymph nodes must still have a ways to go.  His feet still are swollen but feel less hot to the touch.  As inflammed as they were I'm not expecting that to go away overnight.

Pippin is a big, 19 pound cat that was out of a feral mama that used to hang in our neighborhood.  He was indoors only for the first few years of his life but I did start giving him a few hours of outside time each day.  He's a much happier--and far less aggressive--cat since he's had that outlet.  I realize that there are downsides, including the fact that I can't totally control what he eats and exposure to fleas. For the last three years I've been feeding him Evo Turkey & Chicken Formula, both dry and canned.  He's always been sensitive to diet changes, even when transitioned in slowly.  My mom got a lot of cast off cat food on our way to finding Evo.

I haven't even talked with the vet about prevention but I really need to explore options.  I've always known that due to his hands-off, feisty temperament he isn't a good candidate for treating chronic conditions.

What brands of the novel protein foods would you suggest I look for?  Anything else that would be worthwhile to look into, either from the preventative or medical standpoint? 

Oh, Jules (WhollyCat) will have to address that one, because I have no experience with EGC.

I just wanted to say it's not lymphoma! THAT must be SUCH a relief!

And it's GREAT that your mighty hunter decided to tackle a sock for you today! What a lovely gift! :bigthumb:

....as to the novel proteins.... since Pippin already eats pate style food, you might want to consider trying Nature's Variety Instinct cans. :nod: The are single-source proteins; they have a limited list of ingredients. They do have peas and carrots, but they're whole, and you can just pick them out (he doesn't need those!). The food doesn't have carrageenan, it doesn't have soy - it doesn't have stuff that is often a trigger for allergies, so might work for the EGC. :dk: It's high protein, VERY low carb - just what a kitty needs. :nod: They have venison, duck, rabbit... My picky kitties really liked the rabbit. :dk: What you can do is try just mixing like one teaspoon in with the EVO. See if he notices. If he doesn't mind, just stick at that amount for a few meals, then bump it up a little, and so on.... OH! A good trick for keeping the unused food fresh is buying an ice cube tray for cat food, and doling out the rest of the can into the tray. Pop one out, put it in a baggie, run it under warm water to dethaw quickly. My cats hated food that had been stored in the fridge....

Continued vibes for you and your boy!

I don't know much about this illness so am not in a position to give advice, but I wanted to add my vibes that he will be better  !!!!!!!!

And I love that he killed a sock for you!! 

Pippin The Mighty Sock Slayer continues to show improvement and I'm greatly relieved.  He's been waking me up in the morning and is perkier, although he is clearly irritated by the legs and will scramble back to his "sick bed" when they are bothering him.  Still spending more time than usual resting.  

This morning he tried to get me to let him outside in the pouring rain--not happening.  HUGE difference from the beginning of the week when all he was doing was sleeping and letting the whole family love on him.  That last part was highly uncharacteristic for him--so much so that someone commented that we'd feel better if he'd take a chomp to let us know he'd had enough petting. 

One lesson I've learned is that because he is a "hands-off" cat, I'm really going to have to be extra vigilant and step up the checking and monitoring.   I'll check out food suggestions as well. 

Thank you all again for the support. 

Here's to hoping he'll be chomping on you soon. :lol3:

I quickly perused the thread, but I don't see any recommendation for you to start giving him krill oil? It has anti-inflammatory properties, and may REALLY help that EGC! I would order NOW Neptune Krill Oil, 500mg, and start giving those to him daily. :nod: You can just squeeze it onto wet food (start small, see if he likes it). :nod: Even if this is allergy-related, this will help that too! It's an easy-hands off form of treatment.

He was real accomodating on the chomping part a minute ago when I examined his paws.    He's still got one area that looks raw so I'm going to watch that carefully.

I have krill oil on hand--320mg, Mercola brand so that's a simple one.  Thanks for the recommendation. 

:lol3: YAY for chomping! Funny, the things we can be happy about when it comes to our kitties and their health.

Oh GREAT! I love Mercola - I'm sure it's an excellent product! I do hope it helps! :cross: