Treatment advice. 13 year old kitty diagnosed with cancer.

Hello everyone.

I have a 13 year old tuxedo cat that I have had since he was 5 months old. He has recently lost a lot of weight and weighs 14 pounds now. He will eat very little and is drinking once in awhile but I am trying to entice him to eat more. The MRI shows cloudy lungs but other than that he has no other issues. He will still lay with me and purr, he will meow sometimes but he's sleepy a lot. He shows no sign of pain, distress or breathing problems.

He's not interested in fresh meats, rice, veggies. I have even tried cooking some ground beef with butter for extra calories and not even a nibble. He's not interested in the AD critical care cat food formula with organ meats but will eat Friskies meat pieces that I have added a little water to. I know this is not the best food for him with cancer but I am not sure what else to feed him.

I have read of holistic approaches, he is not on any chemo but is taking .5 mg of prednisone a day. I would love to see him gain a little weight. I am not sure what else I can do to help him out and get him to eat.

Thank you in advance.

I'm so sorry.

Was he diagnosed via biopsy? :dk: What type of cancer? Large cell, small cell?

...and if he weighs 14 pounds now, and he "recently lost a lot of weight," did the vet discuss with you a disease called hepadic lipidosis? Otherwise known as fatty liver? His loss of appetite may be due to this - and the cure, if the problem hasn't progressed too far - is rather simple. He needs to be assist-fed with a syringe, or you can have a feeding tube inserted (a quick procedure requiring a minimum of anesthetic), and get him the nutritional support he needs that way. Food itself is what he needs.

Fatty liver in cats:

http://www.cat-world.com.au/hepatic-lipidosis-fatty-liver-disease

http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/fatty_liver.htm

Information about support with a feeding tube:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=feedingtubes

Even if he doesn't have fatty liver (which I'm thinking at this point he probably does have it), he needs nutrition. :heart2: My cancer cat actually ended up enjoying being syringe fed, and it wasn't stressful for either of us. But we gave him additional support with an anti-nausea medication (Cerenia), and appetite stimulant (mirtazipine; this only needs to be given every 3 days. Many prefer cyproheptadine, which needs to be given every 12 hours); and an antacid, once a day. The appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medication led to him eating on his own rather quickly.

You can also consider supplementing your kitty with 250mg of lactoferrin given 125mg in the morning and 125mg at night. I buy the Jarrow Lactoferrin (it is bovine, not rice-based. All the studies were done with bovine lactoferrin). It comes in 250mg pills, so he just gets half in the morning and half at night, I just sprinkle it on his food (he doesn't eat dry food).

Working in concert with the lactoferrin is probiotics. Just a simple acidophilus+bifidus supplement may also help. I use a human one, 5 billion CFU (colony forming units: this is how the dose of probiotics is measured, in CFU) in the morning, and 5 billion at night.

You can also talk to your vet about vitamin B-12 injections. Though this discussion is about B-12 in kitties with IBD, the principles are the same: http://ibdkitties.net/B12.html This may help his nutrient absorption and his appetite.

Vibes for you and your boy. :heart2:

Thank you so much for your reply.

They said he has lymphoma and has some white spots on his lungs. He currently had no liver issues. I do have the full report PDF in email. I will definitely look into syringe feeding. I am able to get his prednisone down in one quick move, maybe I will have some luck with the syringe. I will also contact his vet and see about the feeding tube.

Thank you for your advice, I will look into those supplements as well!

The canned food, a/d is designed to be used in a syringe. You can purchase the baby feeding syringes from a pharmacy (actually, you can chat with the pharmacist, and they may give you a couple of free ones).

I buy these on Amazon, and find them very easy to use and clean:
These are 15ml syringes, so easier to get all the food they need when you've worked up to it.

(You do have to cut the ends off so they work!)

I would start assist-feeding him.

These are pretty good written instructions: http://www.mv.com/users/louise/thoughts/post8_syringe_feeding_cat.html

When I assist feed, I put the tip of the syringe in his cheek at the back of his mouth. I don't want to risk squirting it down his throat, because if they're struggling, they may end up inhaling some of the food into their lungs (aspirating some of the food). So I always squirted it into the cheek, not straight into his mouth.

Start small, and work up to giving him the amount he needs each day. I ended up feeding Lazlo 2 syringes (15ml each) 3x a day, I think it was. He needed roughly the whole can of food: he weighed 10 pounds at the time. But if you're getting at least 50% of your kitty's caloric need into him, you shouldn't run the risk of fatty liver developing. It is, of course, best to make sure he's getting 100% of what he needs daily.

But I would chat with the vet about supportive care - the anti-nausea med and the appetite stimulant. These may help. :cross:

:heart2:

Thank you, I have ordered the syringes. I have the supplements ready to ordered.

They diagnosed him via x-ray. We originally brought him in thinking he had a hairball lodged and couldn't get it out. We thought he had diarrhea as well but it turns out it's our 2 year old cat. Tux hasn't gagged that I've seen since he has been back from the vet. He has however coughed up a few hairballs which he wasn't doing before. The vet said he may have slight asthma but I haven't heard him breathing with a quickness, extra noise or difficulty. I really appreciate your help.

This is from his workup.

Abdominal and Thoracic Radiographs ABDOMEN: Lateral and ventral dorsal images are available for evaluation.
The patient is obese. There is soft tissue streaking noted throughout the
peritoneal cavity most pronounced within the left quadrant and the central
and cranial abdomen. The liver appears of normal size and shape. Renal
shadows appear normal. The urinary bladder is distended and of uniform soft
tissue opacity. The spleen is small in size. The proximal colon contains fluid
and gas and is dilated focally. The remainder of bowel appear nondistended
and aggregated within the right mid abdomen.

THORAX: Lateral and ventral dorsal images are available for evaluation. The
lung exhibits a diffuse and severe mixed pulmonary infiltrate which consists
of variably sized and irregularly-shaped soft tissue opaque nodules,
multifocal areas of alveolar infiltrate, including uniform opacification and
decreased inflation within the accessory lung, and a diffuse peribronchial
infiltrate. The heart appears slightly elongated on the ventral dorsal view
however small in size on the lateral image. Pleural margins are rounded and
slightly retracted from the thoracic wall surrounding the left caudal lung. The
patient is obese.

Conclusion: Peritoneal effusion and suspect mass associated with the
proximal large bowel. Nodular interstitial pulmonary infiltrate most compatible
with pulmonary metastasis with additional pulmonary findings suggesting
concurrent or secondary bacterial bronchopneumonia or allergic
inflammatory disease, with the possibility of all of the pulmonary infiltrate
representing dissemination of neoplastic disease also considered. Possible
mass within the accessory lung or alveolar fluid within this lung lobe with
partial atelectasis. Abdominal ultrasound may be helpful for further evaluation
of the suspected bowel mass. Obesity.
Urinalysis Completion Pending
Therapy Instituted