the IDB vs Lymphoma limbo of horror

i'm currently in the middle of a "is it IDB or small cell lymphoma" stress ball. it's on going and a tad long.

it all started last wednesday when i came home and my 11 yr old kitty companion had thrown up twice in relatively the same spot. both spots looked like a hairball cleansing so i didn't think much of it except that i felt like she'd had a few other tiny vomits over the last month and that was a little unusual. but she was acting fine, she's gained a half pound, eating and drinking is normal, litter box habits all the same. basically not being any weirder than she has been since i brought her home. i figured if it didn't go away it was something to bring up at her exam in january as we prepare to move to europe for a year.

friday morning i woke up to the sound of vomitting, this time it was all her food. i cleaned it up, deciding i'd hit the google and maybe move the vet appointment up to the weekend, gave her fresh food and water and left for work. when i got home, she was no where to be seen/heard, which freaked me out b/c without fail she is at the door meowing for treats, has been for as long as i've been giving them to her. there were also about 5 little quarter sized places where she'd thrown up white foam. i called for her, trying not to sound panicked b/c that just makes her laugh and hide more. i finally found her on a suitcase under the bed, not an usual place for her to nap but she wouldn't come out. i pulled the suitcase out and she didn't move. when i picked her up she jumped and hid under a step stool. i saw that she hadn't eaten any of the food and she was smacking her lips, clearly dehydrated so i took her to the pet er. since my vet is open on weekends i had them give her fluids and anti nausea meds to get thru the night. when she threw up white foam the next morning we went to the vet.

the vet did all the usual tests and xrays. there weren't any blockages they could see and everything looked normal, so maybe it was pancreatitis or ibd. they gave her more fluids and some cerenia pills for me to give her, fun! when the test results came back there were some abnormalities in her protein levels and something about her kidney i can't remember, but they suggested an ultrasound. i figured i'd already gone this far, why not max out that no interest for a year credit card. my little buddy had just gotten registered as an emotional support animal and now that fuzzy butt was causing me emotional distress.

yesterday she had the ultrasound and when the vet called with the "results" i had a small meltdown. i say "results" b/c there basically weren't any. she said that the intestines were a bit thick but that ibd and small cell lymphoma were so similar it would take an endoscopy to get any further conclusions. she said that some people opt not to do the endoscopy and just treat it as idb. i was still at work and asked if we could talk more when i picked her up. i immediately started googleing the hell out of it. the only  symptom she has is the vomiting and here my vet was telling me it could be lymphoma. when i finally talked to the doctor she explained that the treatment for both is meds and a diet change so some people just treat for the idb and hope for the best. she then told me that if it was small cell lymphoma the pet usually lives for 1-2 years. then she handed me the estimate which cost the same as the er visit, x-rays, tests and ultrasound combined. i got mal in the car, cried and called my mom. she immediately said to schedule the endoscopy, put it on a credit card number she was going to send me and we'd work the rest out later. she's my favorite person ever.

which brings me to today. the doctor who does the endoscopy only does them on wednesdays and is already out for the holidays. so we have an appointment for january 6th, the day after we get back from my parents on the east coast. so now we wait and i give her anti nausea meds a few days. she hates the pill pods but she's been pretty ok about me bear hugging her and dropping it down her throat so far.

so that's where we are. i know 11 is a good age, i know barring a tragic event she wasn't going to outlive me. i also know i have know idea what i'm gonna do without her. i know there's no diagnosis yet, but i'm pessimistic by nature. i found this site in my googleing, thought it would be nice to have a more recent journey uploaded. thanks for the space.

I've been there, hug your kitty and love on him just like any other day. Take it one day at a time.  Glad you have the endoscopy scheduled, my late girl Tiger and  didn't get that far into that dance.

If your kitty is still spitting up white foam, you might ask  your vet if Pepcid AC an hour before breakfast might help. I gave that the same time as the Cerenia. I put both in a gelap and wrapped it with Duck flavored Pill Pocket.

How is your girl? Hoping she's doing well. [emoji]127801[/emoji]

Went thru the IBD to lymphoma progression w/my cat. He was on Budesonide for 5 years before it morphed into lymphoma. We tried Chlorambucil which put the lymphoma onto remission but caused severe anemia so we stopped it . We then used supportive therapy including Prednisolone, appetite enhancers, and drugs to reduce nausea. He had a good quality of life until about 3 days before the end which was 10 months after the lymphoma diagnosis. In short there is much that can be done where the quality of life remains good for a long time but the care is expensive. Only you can decide if that is something you can afford or want to do

MeowMal,

I am in the middle of this same issue. If you Read any of my threads, you will see how stressed I was about this. 

It is a hard road. I am glad you are having an endoscopic biopsy. That is what I did. I think waiting until Jan 6 is ok. Artie had to wait a week for his. Again, as you said, it is only done on Wednesdays. I took him to an Internal Medicine Specialist. I think that is a good way to go. 

Artie is still seeing the specialist. His next appointment is in the middle of January. 

I Know exactly how you are feeling, it stinks! You feel helpless and afraid of losing your buddy. I know...

I definitely feel as if I needed to know, especially if it did turn out to be lymphoma.This way, if I decided upon it, if it was lymphoma, then Artie could begin taking chemo. They will not prescribe chemo drugs unless there is a definite diagnosis.

Artie was, at one point was taking 7 meds a day. Now he is just getting medicated with pepcid, the steroid, and a motility drug for his poops. 

You may think of asking your Vet if Mal can take 1/2 of a Pepcid AC daily or 1/4 of the pepcid twice a day. I cut them with a pill cutter, put them in a gel capsule, use a pill gun and give a bit of water as a chaser (from a syringe).

Pepcid AC is a very bitter, horrible tasting medicine...yuck..no wonder kitties run away from it!!! It needs to be hidden!

While he is waiting; You could also ask if he could be on Cerenia, just to help calm his tummy from vomiting..

These will not effect the outcome of the biopsy. 

There is so much to this disease and it is so frustrating....so many highs and lows....

One thing to try on your own: could you associate the vomiting with a certain food. I was able to associate Artie's with chicken. He is now on a novel protein diet...

so much to read up on and learn..and understand...

And most of all: remember to take one step at a time--if you go in too deep it becomes overwhelming....seriously--been there, done that!!!

I am sending you     and   

(hugs)  Good Luck..

keep us updated..

thanks for the love! mallory is doing well over the holiday. she is on cerenia on the following schedule:

half a pill for 5 days, half a pill every other day for 7 and then half a pill twice a week. the difficult part of the schedule is that she grazes with her food, dry only. so i have to take her food away for a few hours, pill her and then give the food back an hour later.

she was doing fine up until the last pill which she tried like hell to cough back up. she got all foamy at the mouth which freaked me out. i did the google and discovered it's a common reaction. she threw up a few hours later and then a tiny bit the following day. since she hadn't gotten sick since she started taking the meds, and in the 3 days she was off of them, or since, i feel like that may have been caused by the stress she put on her tummy trying to get the pill back up. i'll be getting a pill gun if indeed she will be taking medication daily from now on.

we're still a week out from the endoscopy and she's her normal self she's been all along. still eating, playing, litter habits the same.

i haven't been able to narrow it down to a food or treat that may be causing the upset tummy since her treats have always been the same and her food has fluctuated between science diet senior longevity and the indoor version depending on what is available at the store. i chose science diet since it's what we'd always fed our dogs and the vet sold it. after reading posts here i'll be changing her diet regardless of the results of the endoscopy. something with less fillers.

we've hit a bit of a snag with our travel plans due to the procedure as we're relocating to budapest for 2016. i may have to delay the flight based on the endoscopy results. she is needing to be micro chipped and a rabies vaccine prior to travel. they will probably do the micro chip while she is under but will hold off on the vaccine. due to the 21 day waiting period, we may have to leave a week later. not a huge deal since it's for work and originally i was leaving 2 weeks later anyways.

she's a great traveler and now officially on the emotional support animal registry. our flight from west to east coasts for the holiday was her first flight that she was registered. i've always flown with her but it's nice to know that on the 11+ hour flight, i can let her out to stretch her legs if need be. truth be told she doesn't want to be out of the carrier, maybe if it's not a full flight.

I don't want to scare you, but I wish the vet and specialist my cat is seeing had suggested just treating for IBD because during her endoscopy the specialist accidentally tore a hole in her GI tract and she had to go into emergency surgery which cost thousands of dollars and delayed her steroid treatment a couple more weeks. I wasn't even given the option of treating for IBD first, the specialist just said the only next step to diagnose what was wrong would be an endoscopy. You can read more about it if you want in my thread about Mia. I'm sure what happened to her was rare but I just wanted to let you know that it's possible. Best of luck to you and Mallory, I hope she gets well soon!!

Tiny update: the vet doing the endoscopy has pneumonia and so we have to wait until next week.

On the plus side, they were able to do the microchip and rabies vaccine today so that's 2 things off the travel check list.

With regards to just treating as IBD: since we will be spending the next 11 months in Hungary, I'd rather get all the testing done with the vet she is comfortable with and that I trust.

That stinks about the biopsy being delayed...

I wanted you to know that IBD kitties on steroids should not be vaccinated.--something to do with the live vaccine...I think...... I do get confused easily though..

It is good you got the vaccination now, rather than later. 

I do not have to go that route for a few years. He had all his recent boosters before the diagnosis..

My guy was 11 yrs old when he had the endoscopic biopsy. He was very sick after it. Do not get too upset if he is appears to be in pain for several days. I was kicking myself for making him have it done, however it was the only way I could get a diagnosis and start appropriate treatment. He did break my heart during the recuperation period. 

The Vet said that you never know how hard the procedure will effect a cat. They are all different. 

I was glad I had it done. The meds are really helping Artie. It had to be done, as far as I was concerned--I needed peace of mine and most importantly, Artie got the proper treatment. He is doing really well now.. (fingers and toes crossed)...

keep us updated!!

What I do for my guy about pilling. I use a pill gun and put the pill in a gelatin capsule. I do not think you can take that overseas, but I got the empty gel capsules from Amazon. I got the #4 size. it goes down really easy. I also give a cheer of water from a 10cc feeding(baby) syringe which I got at the drug store...helps the capsule to go down...

Good Luck!

Mallory is having her endoscopy today, fingers crossed

Good Luck! [emoji]127808[/emoji]. Hoping for good results! [emoji]128077[/emoji]

Hope everything goes well!

Sending truckloads of positive vibes that all goes well for her procedure. ...

Mal made it through the endoscopy fine. She had a little bleeding when they took the biopsy of the intestine so they gave her an anti-biotic shot to prevent infection. She's a little lethargic but she's eating and drinking water.

They biopsied her intestine, colon and stomach, test results should be in sometime next week.

The doctor said that if the tests don't confirm small cell lymphoma that it could be due to not being able to get a deep enough sample and the next biopsy would involve surgery. He advised against this and suggested to treat as IDB instead.

She alternated between loving on me and growling at me all night. She's so over the vet visits, it's been nearly once a week for the past month.

Provided nothing major happens in the next two weeks, she'll go in for her health certificate and we'll head to Hungary for the rest of the year.

Thanks for all the good thoughts!!! 

So glad things went well!  I would definitely advise against surgery too and just treat for IBD.

(((hugs)))    sending   your way!

Glad to hear the test went okay. Hope the test results bring the best possible news.

I;m so relieved to hear your girl made it through the endoscopy, thanks for the update; so now I am sending more healing and calming vibes while you await the results., My fingers are crossed for a treatable situation, hugs and scritches to your girl, what a trooper!

Mallory is still doing well. She's eating regularly and way more cuddly.

She has the most pathetic little squeak meow right now. I think it's a combo of having had a tube down her throat and loudly, and frequently, telling everyone at the vet exactly what she thought of them. It wasn't complimentary.

I really recommend getting empty gel capsules and putting whatever pills you have to use inside. That means only one pill, and they can't taste the gross pills inside. And yes you can bring them overseas (why not? they're just gelatin) and I also recommend getting anything else you think you'll need from Amazon while you're still in the states. I'm in Germany, and because there are so few people on German Amazon (so less competition), the price for most stuff fluctuates wildly and tends towards the crazy side. And you can actually read the ingredient lists on the .com Amazon. The prescriptions you can probably find in Hungary, but it's probably a good idea to try to find a vet there now and make sure her treatment can be continued with no breaks because prescribing guidelines are a bit different country to country. (For example, I couldn't get my vet to prescribe me any kind of opiate for my cat's pain here, just NSAIDs that aren't even legal in the US.)