hi! we rescued a feral (BBK) from one of our TNR colonies last july. he was quickly losing weight, losing fur, not eating much, just generally looked awful. his colony lives near a dumpster, and BBK often greeted us by jumping out of it — he spent a LOT of time in there, scavenging.
his initial bloodwork was ALL over the place, and he is FIV+. he was full of tapeworms (the less common ones) and was de-wormed a few times. he was anemic, and we initially treated for a blood parasite. he did horribly on that medication and the anemia pretty much resolved itself, anyway. we had a hard time getting him to eat, though, and his diarrhea was just awful. his lymph nodes in the abdominal region were pretty swollen, and his WBC count was climbing really high. we took him to a specialist for an ultrasound, which revealed very distorted, swollen intestines. the specialist said it could be IBD or lymphoma, but based on his FIV status, she wrote it off as lymphoma. at that point, we were a lot of money into this rescue and he was in pretty awful shape. he’s a big, tall cat, and he was down to 7 lbs. he was in no shape for exploratory surgery — or even chemo drugs, really. we were told our only real option (without doing surgery) was prednisolone. he has been on 5 mg daily since mid-august. he’s also been wormed several times since then for roundworm — we can’t seem to get a full grip on that. he is also on monthly vitamin B shots.
anyway, he gained weight pretty steadily thru to january — he’s around 12 lbs. now, shiny coat, a really happy and mellow guy. his weight and hunger fluctuates a bit, but again — we are still dealing with these pesky roundworms.
my question is this: if this were lymphoma, could prednisolone alone sustain him for this long? his specialist will not return my calls, because they would like to see him again (of course). I really don't like this dr., so I am planning to get him into my normal vet soon, but in the meantime — does this seem suspicious to anyone? or totally normal, if it’s a slow-growing lymphoma?
his initial bloodwork was ALL over the place, and he is FIV+. he was full of tapeworms (the less common ones) and was de-wormed a few times. he was anemic, and we initially treated for a blood parasite. he did horribly on that medication and the anemia pretty much resolved itself, anyway. we had a hard time getting him to eat, though, and his diarrhea was just awful. his lymph nodes in the abdominal region were pretty swollen, and his WBC count was climbing really high. we took him to a specialist for an ultrasound, which revealed very distorted, swollen intestines. the specialist said it could be IBD or lymphoma, but based on his FIV status, she wrote it off as lymphoma. at that point, we were a lot of money into this rescue and he was in pretty awful shape. he’s a big, tall cat, and he was down to 7 lbs. he was in no shape for exploratory surgery — or even chemo drugs, really. we were told our only real option (without doing surgery) was prednisolone. he has been on 5 mg daily since mid-august. he’s also been wormed several times since then for roundworm — we can’t seem to get a full grip on that. he is also on monthly vitamin B shots.
anyway, he gained weight pretty steadily thru to january — he’s around 12 lbs. now, shiny coat, a really happy and mellow guy. his weight and hunger fluctuates a bit, but again — we are still dealing with these pesky roundworms.
my question is this: if this were lymphoma, could prednisolone alone sustain him for this long? his specialist will not return my calls, because they would like to see him again (of course). I really don't like this dr., so I am planning to get him into my normal vet soon, but in the meantime — does this seem suspicious to anyone? or totally normal, if it’s a slow-growing lymphoma?