GI Lymphoma

My 11 year old was diagnosed in 2009 with GI Lymphoma (high grade) and was treated with the CHOP Protocol for 5 months.  He went into remission for 4 years, and they re-did the CHOP.  We got a year of remission this time so they tried Lomustine and Elspar - both did nothing.  Now, we're trying the CHOP again.  Last Friday he got a shot of Vincristine.  He's pretty pukey and not very hungry.  I read to try Pepcid so I gave him a 1/4 tablet of Pepcid AC.  He also gets 5mg of Prednisone twice a day.

Anyone gone through this with their furbaby?  The Oncologist said he still has a few tricks up his sleeve and has not given up hope.  It sure is hard to watch my baby lose weight and not have his appetite 100%.  I wonder about the Vincristine and maybe that's causing him to lose his appetite?  He got the shot on Friday - it is now Monday evening.

Thoughts?

There are several people here who have gotten chemo for their kitties and some remissions, I am sure that someone with experience with this will post.  Has your vet tried Cerenia?  It's label use is for motion sickness in dogs but it does help cats with nausea as well.  The vet can give a shot to get him started then you can give pills at home.

Yes, there are a few people here whose cats have gone thru Chemo, but I'm not familiar at all with this drug they are using on your furbaby...Vincristine.  That's a new one to me.  But I agree with Denice that your Vet should be able to prescribe something for the nausea, which may then give him his appetite back.  That may be what he means by having a few tricks up his sleeve.  As to the Pepcid A/C, that really is for over acidity, which also causes nausea, but probably won't prevent nausea if it's caused by the drug

I'm so glad your kitty enjoyed such success with the chemo! :heart2:

Lazlo went through a different chemo therapy in 2011 into 2012. He had large cell lymphoma (which I think is also termed "high grade" lymphoma. Not sure) expressed as a "massive mass" in his stomach. It was inoperable, but for him, chemo worked. Knock wood....

On Thursday we celebrate two years of remission.... (well, from the end of his 6-months of his chemo treatments).

When he was on chemo, he was on 5mg of pred, and a full 10mg of famotidine (pepcid a/c). We gave the 10mg at night, at least an hour after food (that way it supposedly gives 24 hour coverage). He needed the acid suppression though, because his was a mass in his stomach, which meant bleeding ulcers (which were treated with sucralfate).

But he needed an appetite stimulant AND an anti-nausea medication. Cerenia is what we used. It comes as a pill, and and we used it off-label. Typical protocol is 3 days on, one day off OR five days on, two days off. But we were instructed to use it daily, and we did, to no (apparent) ill effect. It worked VERY well for nausea. It can also be given as a shot at the vet - this comes in handy when they're not keeping food down, so the pill doesn't stay down. One shot is usually all that's needed, as they can then keep the food down, and you can thus administer the pill (well, 1/4 pill) at home.

The appetite stimulant we used was mirtazipine. This makes some kitties really loopy, so others often prefer cyproheptadine. But the mirtazipine only needs to be given every 3 days.

So yes, please discuss Cerenia with your vet!

Vibes for your boy!

I don't know what his protocol was called. It included vinblastine (rather than vincristine) elspar, doxorubicin once a month (this one was the hardest for Lazlo)... mmmm..... it was too long ago. I don't remember what the 4th one was.

Daisy is on vincristine. She had weekly iv for 12 weeks -now fortnightly. She wasn't sick at all but was quite lethargic for a couple days after. Hopefully just teething problems with a new drug.
Good luck