Lymphoma Diagnosis

soxfan

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My 15 year old domestic long hair was having trouble with constipation so after two Enema treatments over a two week period at the vet's they decided to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed enlarged lymph nodes in his hind quarters which are impinging on his colon which the vet thinks is contributing to his constipation. Based on his age and symptoms, the constipation and his weight loss my vet felt lymphoma was the likely diagnosis.

So now Scooter is on 5mg of prednisone twice a day and we have been trying various methods to help him with his constipation. The lactulose the vet prescribed was a nightmare to try to get into him so now I have been giving him laxatone mixed into his food. The results have been mediocre. Just a couple of stools over the past 5 days and neither was of his usual amount. The funny thing is he eats well and is his usual self around the house. He doesn't seem like he is in any distress but I want to help him in any way I can. He has been a loyal friend and companion and deserves no less. Any thoughts on the lymphoma diagnosis or anything else we can do to help him would be most appreciated.

ps: just to make things more interesting, Scooter's four legged brother (our 13 year old Golden Retriever) just had a tumor removed from his spleen 3 days ago. It has been a trying few weeks around our house. Thanks again........
 

denice

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For the constipation you could try Miralax.  It's a tasteless powder that can be mixed into wet food, it's much easier to give and it seems to give better results.  You can start with 1/4 teaspoon twice a day and adjust the dose as needed for the right result.
 
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soxfan

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Is your vet saying large cell lymphoma, not small cell lymphoma, correct?
The vet said that without doing a biopsy she couldn't be sure. She said that it could just be an inflammation so we would try the prednisone but due to the cat's age lymphoma was a good possibility. I did not want to put him through a biopsy at his age and felt we should try the prednisone and some type of laxative to see if the constipation could be alleviated. I'm not sure what the next steps need to be.
 

cocheezie

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For the constipation you could try Miralax.  It's a tasteless powder that can be mixed into wet food, it's much easier to give and it seems to give better results.  You can start with 1/4 teaspoon twice a day and adjust the dose as needed for the right result.
A lot of cats respond better to Miralax.
 

stephenq

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OK, well small cell lymphoma will typically cause weight loss due to diarrhea, not constipation (which itself doesnt cause weight loss unless the cat stops eating), and trying predisone is the usual way to treat this although prediSOLOne is usually a better choice if available because cats turn predisone into prednisolone so giving them the latter drug saves the cat from having to metabolize it into that drug.
 
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