FeLV cat diagnosed with lymphoma, what to do?

[Haikyoneko]

Hi,

I adoped 2 cats from a shelter just over 18 months ago, they were 7 months old at the time. Both tested positive for FeLV.

One of them, Luna, recently had dificulty breathing, and lost her appatite, so I took her to the vet. She has lymphoma, probably high status mediastinal lymphoma (I'll have to check as I live in Japan, and my Japanese isn't fluent, and my vet doesn't speak English).

My vet recommended COP, but reading about it, FeLV positive cats seem to have a very poor prognosis, in the region of 3 months, even with agressive chemo.

She's home on steriods now, and although her appitite is back, she's nowhrere near as active as she was.

I wondering if it's really worth it to put her through chemo for what could be literally a couple of extra weeks?

Also, it's hard to put a monatary value on my cats life, but COP is really expensive, and you can't get pet insurance for FeLV positive cats. I can afford it, but I don't know if it's the correct thing to do.

I understand that it's a choice I have to make, but any advice/information would be welcome.

Thank you.

 

[mewlittle]

I say try the chemo etc if you can afford it I seen a cat on YouTube named Cole that beat it with chemo etc

Also following bc I suspect my 2 cats having it

 

[Haikyoneko]

Thing is, it's almost impossible to be cured, just go into remission.

Otherwise health cats can live decent lives.

FeLV positive cats, on the other hand, do not. About 3 months even with aggressive chemo.

 

[mewlittle]

I had a cat live 5+ years with it unsure what my mom had the vet give them I was a kid then ,I say it still give it a shot bc if you don't you might beat yourself up later about not even trying it,

Whatever way you choose I hope for the best

 

[Haikyoneko]

I had a cat live 5+ years with it unsure what my mom had the vet give them I was a kid then ,I say it still give it a shot bc if you don't you might beat yourself up later about not even trying it,

Whatever way you choose I hope for the best

Was that cat FeLV positive?

 

[mewlittle]

Was that cat FeLV positive?

Yes we had allot of Felv/FIV cats and most of them lived passed the 6mo mark

 

[Haikyoneko]

Yes we had allot of Felv/FIV cats and most of them lived passed the 6mo mark

So your FeLV positive cat got lymphoma, got chemo and then went on to live for another 5 years in remission? That's a pretty lucky cat.

 

[Meowmee]

My Wizard was fiv pos when I took him in. He developed intestinal lymphoma later in life, after having ibd symptoms and he also had crf and anemia. We treated him with prednisilone and chlorambucil. He lived for a few months. He was somewhere between 19-20.

I think prognosis is very poor for an felv kitty with that type and grade like you said. There is no way to know what the outcome will be unfortunately. Certainly you don’t want your kitty to suffer a lot. I don’t envy you the decision.

It was very clear to me that Wizard did not want to leave me so I kept him with me until he couldn’t comfortably stay anymore. He started to improve a great deal at the beginning of the treatment but then he suddenly crashed at the end for unknown reasons. Cats don’t yet have access to the newer cancer treatments people are getting now as far as I know.

I recently lost sweet Jezbie to cancer as well. A fast spreading oral cancer that was misdiagnosed. I opted to just let her go without reviving her. She was one of my outdoor cats who I had hope to keep inside.

If you decide to treat make sure your kitty has some type of pain killers and whatever else she needs etc to keep her as comfy as possible. Hugs to you all

 

[Haikyoneko]

My Wizard was fiv pos when I took him in. He developed intestinal lymphoma later in life, after having ibd symptoms and he also had crf and anemia. We treated him with prednisilone and chlorambucil. He lived for a few months. He was somewhere between 19-20.

I think prognosis is very poor for an felv kitty with that type and grade like you said. There is no way to know what the outcome will be unfortunately. Certainly you don’t want your kitty to suffer a lot. I don’t envy you the decision.

It was very clear to me that Wizard did not want to leave me so I kept him with me until he couldn’t comfortably stay anymore. He started to improve a great deal at the beginning of the treatment but then he suddenly crashed at the end for unknown reasons. Cats don’t yet have access to the newer cancer treatments people are getting now as far as I know.

I recently lost sweet Jezbie to cancer as well. A fast spreading oral cancer that was misdiagnosed. I opted to just let her go without reviving her. She was one of my outdoor cats who I had hope to keep inside.

If you decide to treat make sure your kitty has some type of pain killers and whatever else she needs etc to keep her as comfy as possible. Hugs to you all

Thanks, I understand what you're saying.

As far as I can tell, when a cat has FeLV, they can life a fairly normal life. But once they get lymphoma, it's weeks without agressive chemo, and months with. But poor old Luna won't see another year.

I'll think seriously about what's best, but I understand she's probably not going to be around much longer whatever I choose.