Senior Cat With Advanced Lymphoma

[SDerailed]

Hello all,

We adopted Moxley about 2 months ago. He's a 14 year old Maine Coon whom we've known since kittenhood. At his prime, he was 30 lbs of pure cuddles.
When he was given to us, I noted that he was very skinny, but thought that it was the new diet his old owners were trying. I stopped his diet, and moved him over to a full calorie -eat when he wants to no-grain meal to try to build back some muscle. He was lethargic, throwing up after meals, and generally just acting like a cat with cancer.
I had him checked at the vet, and expressed my concerns. He was only 10.5 pounds (from his 30lb original weight) even though he still has a more than healthy appetite. They found huge lympnoids, a small intestines tract that was 5x thicker than an average cat, and one HUGE enlarged kidney. The offered prednesone and the pretty obvious diagnosis of alimentary lymphoma. They said that it was all signs pointing to lymphoma, and that he was not a good candidate to be under anesthesia to do a biopsy to rule out IBS. We got prednisone, and will hope he responds to it.
My question is, what do I expect? They said that he most likely will only live a month or two longer if he does respond to treatment, they've seen 2 years before, but only in less severe cases. What symptoms should I be looking for in quality of life factors? How can I make him comfy for his last days? What symptoms are signs that something ELSE is going on (like a blocked gi tract or such). Any advice, personal experience, etc is greatly appreciated.

 

[maggiedemi]

Is he getting any canned food?

 

[Jessica923]

Hello all,

We adopted Moxley about 2 months ago. He's a 14 year old Maine Coon whom we've known since kittenhood. At his prime, he was 30 lbs of pure cuddles.
When he was given to us, I noted that he was very skinny, but thought that it was the new diet his old owners were trying. I stopped his diet, and moved him over to a full calorie -eat when he wants to no-grain meal to try to build back some muscle. He was lethargic, throwing up after meals, and generally just acting like a cat with cancer.
I had him checked at the vet, and expressed my concerns. He was only 10.5 pounds (from his 30lb original weight) even though he still has a more than healthy appetite. They found huge lympnoids, a small intestines tract that was 5x thicker than an average cat, and one HUGE enlarged kidney. The offered prednesone and the pretty obvious diagnosis of alimentary lymphoma. They said that it was all signs pointing to lymphoma, and that he was not a good candidate to be under anesthesia to do a biopsy to rule out IBS. We got prednisone, and will hope he responds to it.
My question is, what do I expect? They said that he most likely will only live a month or two longer if he does respond to treatment, they've seen 2 years before, but only in less severe cases. What symptoms should I be looking for in quality of life factors? How can I make him comfy for his last days? What symptoms are signs that something ELSE is going on (like a blocked gi tract or such). Any advice, personal experience, etc is greatly appreciated.

My dad had a Havannah Brown cat that had this. We actually did chemo with her which prolonged her life for 5 more months and put my dad over $8,000 in the hole. The Dr put her on tramadol for pain and we gave that to help her through her last couple weeks. I know it's hard but you might want to consider having him put to sleep, I know it sounds horrible but i had to sit and watch my cat suffer through that. She stopped eating and drinking, stopped going to the bathroom, she lost almost all her weight she was 15 lbs and was about 4 lbs when she passed. You will regret it if you just sit and watch him suffer rather than let him go peaceful. I know this for a fact, you don't want your kitty to go through more pain than he had to. I also had to put 1 of my cats down last November it was the most hardest thing I've had to do by myself but I do not regret it because she didn't have to suffer more than she was

 

[SDerailed]

Is he getting any canned food?

Yes, he gets half a can a day. It's more of a treat and a way to sneak more moisture into him than a full meal

 

[SDerailed]

My dad had a Havannah Brown cat that had this. We actually did chemo with her which prolonged her life for 5 more months and put my dad over $8,000 in the hole. The Dr put her on tramadol for pain and we gave that to help her through her last couple weeks. I know it's hard but you might want to consider having him put to sleep, I know it sounds horrible but i had to sit and watch my cat suffer through that. She stopped eating and drinking, stopped going to the bathroom, she lost almost all her weight she was 15 lbs and was about 4 lbs when she passed. You will regret it if you just sit and watch him suffer rather than let him go peaceful. I know this for a fact, you don't want your kitty to go through more pain than he had to. I also had to put 1 of my cats down last November it was the most hardest thing I've had to do by myself but I do not regret it because she didn't have to suffer more than she was

We put our last cat down due to bladder cancer. She was misdiagnosed with FLUTD, and when nothing was working, we got her rechecked and saw the tumor. She was in so much pain, we had to do it. HOWEVER, with Moxley, he's just more tired but you can tell that he's still happy. I think we are just watching him to see when he tells us that it's time. I don't feel he's quite there yet, but I do not believe in prolonging suffering in anyone. So we are prepared to put him down when it's time.

 

[mscatmom]

Hello all,

We adopted Moxley about 2 months ago. He's a 14 year old Maine Coon whom we've known since kittenhood. At his prime, he was 30 lbs of pure cuddles.
When he was given to us, I noted that he was very skinny, but thought that it was the new diet his old owners were trying. I stopped his diet, and moved him over to a full calorie -eat when he wants to no-grain meal to try to build back some muscle. He was lethargic, throwing up after meals, and generally just acting like a cat with cancer.
I had him checked at the vet, and expressed my concerns. He was only 10.5 pounds (from his 30lb original weight) even though he still has a more than healthy appetite. They found huge lympnoids, a small intestines tract that was 5x thicker than an average cat, and one HUGE enlarged kidney. The offered prednesone and the pretty obvious diagnosis of alimentary lymphoma. They said that it was all signs pointing to lymphoma, and that he was not a good candidate to be under anesthesia to do a biopsy to rule out IBS. We got prednisone, and will hope he responds to it.
My question is, what do I expect? They said that he most likely will only live a month or two longer if he does respond to treatment, they've seen 2 years before, but only in less severe cases. What symptoms should I be looking for in quality of life factors? How can I make him comfy for his last days? What symptoms are signs that something ELSE is going on (like a blocked gi tract or such). Any advice, personal experience, etc is greatly appreciated.

Hello, there are many things that can be done for kitties with lymphoma to make them more comfortable. Have you visited the IBD kitties web site? I know Moxley has other things going on, but so do many of the cats affected by intestinal disease For starters, I would get him off of all dry food as that is hard on the system. You mentioned giving canned food as a "treat", so I would consider giving him a lot more of that. Also, slippery elm bark can be a valuable addition to his diet as it is a natural emollient for the digestive tract. Good luck with this - it is a difficult situation but it sounds like you are giving him the love he needs the most.

 

[foxxycat]

The pred will help with appetite. Also helps with pain. You can only try the best you can. I would increase food and allow all he wants. At this point-why deny? Get rid of dry food if you can-do a week long taper= each day feed less dry and more wet..hopefully he will take to the wet food no problem. If he won't give up the crunchies-just let him eat what he likes. Let him decide what he wants to eat within reason.

Slippery Elm is great for stomach icks. He may not eat it on his own-use a syringe and follow with a tasty snack.

The pred is VERY bitter. Get some empty gelcaps=health food store or GNC or amazon etc- I think #00 are the ones you want-the pred is a 5mg tablet-not too big. Put the pred in capsule=get a pill popper and a syringe for water. get some butter. Coat the half of pill sticking out of pill popper with butter=you only have to get it into his mouth near the back of his tongue-shoot it in there and follow with water.

Butter helps it slide down and not get stuck. You can give a sip or so of water before hand. Then the pill. Then water.

I am so sorry to hear your baby is sick. For now there's what I call home nursing care for them.

Sub Fluids, Baby Food and meds to help with nausea and other icks.

Feel free to post anymore questions you have. So very sorry to hear the bad news. Lucky boy to have a good momma!