Do cats live for years with untreated cancer?

aatx · Jun 10, 2015

Our cat has been slowly losing weight now for two years or so. She got picky about her food and stopped eating dry kibble towards the end of last year. The weight loss increased at this time. In January we had the full blood tests run and sent off for the thyroid test. All came back normal. Started treatment with some weekly B-12 injections and a steroid shot. Isolated the cat (so the others wouldn't eat her food) and went through can after can after can of wet food (from junk to more expensive than we could really afford) until we found a few she would eat some of (Fancy Feast classics). After about 6 b-12 shots, the weight loss had mostly stopped, but she had not gained any weight, and she was really hiding from us. We decided the shots/vet were stressing her out too much. So, we stopped the B-12 and went with prednisolone. She did a 1/2 pill twice a day, then a 1/2 pill once a day, then finally a 1/2 pill every other day. Through all of this, her behavior never changed - no lethargy or signs of weakness or discomfort. Recently, she lost some hair under her chin. Went back to vet and we redid tests. She was down to 6lbs now, so had lost about 1/2 a pound in two months. Tests still not showing anything. She gave me a liquid b complex and told me to up the pred back up to 1/2 pill daily. Vet is basically stumped, but thinks it could be cancer, IBS, or AIHA. After about a week and a half of daily pred and daily vit b, I could not tell a change.

So, basically feeling like I didn't have anything to lose, I ordered her transfer factor plus tri-factor. By dose 3, I could actually tell something was changing. She's gone from eating 5-8 oz of wet food per day to 11-13 oz now. Plates are licked clean. It's only been a week, but I can feel certain areas of her body starting to fill back in.

I'm not going to stop the vit b or pred and I'm not calling the transfer factor some kind of miracle worker, but I truly believe it IS doing something to her that is beneficial, and I don't think it's just a delayed reaction on the other two.

But back to my original question - almost all of the stories I have read about cancer have progressed fairly quickly if not treated. What we are doing right now with the pred might be considered treating it, but she had been losing weight for probably 18 + months before it got to this point. Does this sound like how a cancer would act? If it were making her lose this much weight, wouldn't she be showing some other signs of not feeling well?

I am just totally baffled by what would cause her to lose so much weight, but not seem to make her feel bad at all. It steers me more towards some type of autoimmune thing...

I guess I am probably just mostly speaking out loud. Thanks for listening.

stephenq · Jun 10, 2015

aatx said:
Our cat has been slowly losing weight now for two years or so. She got picky about her food and stopped eating dry kibble towards the end of last year. The weight loss increased at this time. In January we had the full blood tests run and sent off for the thyroid test. All came back normal. Started treatment with some weekly B-12 injections and a steroid shot. Isolated the cat (so the others wouldn't eat her food) and went through can after can after can of wet food (from junk to more expensive than we could really afford) until we found a few she would eat some of (Fancy Feast classics). After about 6 b-12 shots, the weight loss had mostly stopped, but she had not gained any weight, and she was really hiding from us. We decided the shots/vet were stressing her out too much. So, we stopped the B-12 and went with prednisolone. She did a 1/2 pill twice a day, then a 1/2 pill once a day, then finally a 1/2 pill every other day. Through all of this, her behavior never changed - no lethargy or signs of weakness or discomfort. Recently, she lost some hair under her chin. Went back to vet and we redid tests. She was down to 6lbs now, so had lost about 1/2 a pound in two months. Tests still not showing anything. She gave me a liquid b complex and told me to up the pred back up to 1/2 pill daily. Vet is basically stumped, but thinks it could be cancer, IBS, or AIHA. After about a week and a half of daily pred and daily vit b, I could not tell a change.

So, basically feeling like I didn't have anything to lose, I ordered her transfer factor plus tri-factor. By dose 3, I could actually tell something was changing. She's gone from eating 5-8 oz of wet food per day to 11-13 oz now. Plates are licked clean. It's only been a week, but I can feel certain areas of her body starting to fill back in.

I'm not going to stop the vit b or pred and I'm not calling the transfer factor some kind of miracle worker, but I truly believe it IS doing something to her that is beneficial, and I don't think it's just a delayed reaction on the other two.

But back to my original question - almost all of the stories I have read about cancer have progressed fairly quickly if not treated. What we are doing right now with the pred might be considered treating it, but she had been losing weight for probably 18 + months before it got to this point. Does this sound like how a cancer would act? If it were making her lose this much weight, wouldn't she be showing some other signs of not feeling well?

I am just totally baffled by what would cause her to lose so much weight, but not seem to make her feel bad at all. It steers me more towards some type of autoimmune thing...

I guess I am probably just mostly speaking out loud. Thanks for listening.

I doubt she could live with cancer that long. It sounds like - based both on symptoms and on treatments, that its IBD (which can in time progress to cancers like small cell lymphoma). Have she ever had an ultrasound or has your vet suggested this? It would be a great (best really) way to see if the bowel is thickened which if it was would support a diagnosis of one of those two illnesses.

aatx · Jun 13, 2015

No, she hasn't had an ultrasound, nor has that been suggested. My original thought was IBD, but she never had any diarrhea and rarely vomits.

I went by the vets office today to pick up a refill on the pred. I brought her along so I could get a new weight. A little over two weeks ago she was 6 lbs. Her appetite changed a bit over a week ago. New weight today was 6.7 lbs. I'm very pleased.

Only bad thing that has increased is the hair loss under her chin and on her ears. Side effect of the pred? Overgrooming? She'll have another appointment in a few weeks.

stephenq · Jun 14, 2015

aatx said:
No, she hasn't had an ultrasound, nor has that been suggested. My original thought was IBD, but she never had any diarrhea and rarely vomits.

I went by the vets office today to pick up a refill on the pred. I brought her along so I could get a new weight. A little over two weeks ago she was 6 lbs. Her appetite changed a bit over a week ago. New weight today was 6.7 lbs. I'm very pleased.

Only bad thing that has increased is the hair loss under her chin and on her ears. Side effect of the pred? Overgrooming? She'll have another appointment in a few weeks.

I don't believe hair loss is a side effect of pred. Gaining weight is great news, it means she's winning not losing the battle at the moment. Weight gain or loss is the most obvious sign of how this disease progresses, and you can do it faster than the vet if you buy an inexpensive baby scale and keep a weight log, at least once a week. If you see a change from stable weight to loss, even by a few ounces, it indicates that her intestines is loosing the ability to take in nutrients and that a vet visit is in order right then. Don't confuse appetite with nutrient absorption. Yes appetite is important, but weight loss from IBD is really from a loss of the intestines ability to absorb nutrients due to the progression of the disease, or its changing into lymphoma.

Do cats live for years with untreated cancer?

aatx

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stephenq

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aatx

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stephenq

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