Mom of 2 senior kitties with IBD / GI Lymphoma says Hello!

I am new to this site. I have two kitties (12 and 10) who have been with us since they were each 3 months old. One has had some chronic health issues his whole life (Eosinophilic Granuloma, seasonal allergy, bladder crystals/FLUTD leading to PU surgery, and now, IBD/allergy and pancreatitis) and has conquered them to get to a new normal, feeling pretty good now, it seems.

The other one also has GI issues and was just diagnosed with Small Cell GI Lymphoma after an initial diagnosis of IBD and pancreatitis.

I have been a cat mom for 30+ years (various kitties, of course) and this is my first trip down the crazy IBD road. I never knew about this disease, and am learning quickly!

My other cats had issues, but this is the most intense. I had (1) cat with hyperthyroid and high BP (lived to age 17 on meds, even after a stroke; (2) cat with CKD/CRF (subQ's and k/d food for 2 years helped her to age 14); and (3) a cranky but loveable Calico who lived to 19 -- she had one or two issues that never required hospitalization, only a round of antibiotics!

By contrast, this year has hit hard. We lost our beautiful and loving orange tabby at age 12 from acute on chronic renal failure -- out of the blue, kitty was healthy-looking and acting. It was a shock.  Now my two survivors are dealing with these chronic GI diseases, including the one just diagnosed with small cell GI Lymphoma (LL).

There have been testing, diagnostics, new meds and new food, or a new symptom.  Now we embark on the chlorambucil/pred chemo regimen for our lymphoma guy. What a tough year for them and us.

Will look forward to learning from those of you going through similar experience.

Cheryl

I'm so sorry about your tabby.  I'm also new to the site and dealing with kitties with IBD.  We have three healthy 3 year old kitties but recently took in four older cats when a friend died suddenly.  There's a healthy 17 year old male and a healthy 10 year old female but the two middle kitties, a 10 year old female and a 13 year old male, have IBD and the 13 year old might actually have lymphoma, no biopsy has been done.  

At this point, since we haven't even integrated the new kitties into our household yet, we're just maintaining their med regimen until we reach some kind of normalcy around here with seven cats instead of three.  It's been a real challenge--my "only child" cat that I had before the three we have now was healthy up until the end when she got kidney disease so I did learn to do the subQ thing at the end with her but that's my only experience with a cat with health issues!  Now I give the 10 year old and 13 year old liquid meds (I forget the name of it now) twice a day and a pred pill to the 13 year old every other day.  I even had to have my vet show me how to pill a cat, I'd never done it before!  Crazy.  

I wish you the best of luck with the kitties' IBD and lymphoma diagnoses.  I've got a lot to learn about having a multi-cat household and kitties with health issues and I'm glad I found this site to share and learn.  

How are you doing?  I've been thinking about your situation--to have one beloved kitty pass so suddenly and then find out the other two are ill as well...that's got to be so tough.  :-(

Just saw this thread. There are members here who are experienced at dealing with IBD and lymphoma. Both Carolina and LDG have had some pretty amazing recovery stories. So don't feel alone and don't lose hope.