Janet, It sounds like you have been through alot. It also sounds to me like your little one has lymphoma although the specifics of the bloodwork would be more telling. Did your vet happen to do a feline leukemia virus test? This virus can cause lymphomas and leukemias but lymphomas and leukemias can arise when the virus isn't present. If it isn't present, you may be able to treat the lymphoma with different things.
An oncologist/hematologist would be most knowledgable. I would absolutely not go on the word of a general practitioner vet as their knowledge is very limited in this field. I would get the exact diagnosis - the pathologist should have done a peripheral blood smear on your cat and there should be a report with the suspected diagnosis. I would then ask to be referred to an oncologist/hematologist. I am telling you this because some of the lymphomas can be well managed, some not so well. Additionally, some of the lymphomas are very slowly progressive and simply watching them can be sufficient. I would be very cautious about using steroids. Vets today seem to jump to this drug a lot because there is a temporary improvement of symptoms in almost all illnesses. The problem is that long term survival is usually shortened. Not to say it wouldn't help, but I would be cautious. If these things are too expensive, and even if they're not, I would really consider high dose intravenous Vitamin C in this case. There is a woman, Sally, in this group who has done work with Vitamin C (and works for a company selling it so she has some investment, but she is a very honest and educated individual who believes in her product). Anyway, she has seen good luck in the treatment of lymphomas with Vitamin C. By the way, the high blood pressure could be helped with this as well. She could hook you and your vet up with how to proceed, if you so choose. I really wish you the best of that luck and I hope that the feline leukemia test is negative - that gives you a fighting chance. Jenny On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 12:34 AM, kia <kia...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Hello again. > My oldest cat Kia lost weight over a period of time and I just thought > maybe it was because she was old. She hasn't acted sick at all. Back in > November my oldest male cat Gabriel got sick and stopped eating. When he > wouldn't take water I knew it was bad. We rushed him to the vet and the > bloodwork showed he was in renal failure. The vet said it was too late to do > anything and we had him put down. Afterwards I starting thinking about Kia > since she is older and thought I better have her checked out. Due to > finances I was unable to take her to the vet until a few weeks ago. I told > the vet she was losing weight and he assumed she had a thyroid problem. > After the blood work came in he told me her lymphocytes were really high and > she had an ear infection and a tooth infection. We went through some > antibiotics and I just took her in last week to check her blood again. This > is when he told me her lymphocytes have dramatically increased just since > the last workup > a couple weeks ago. He is convinced she has circulating leukemia/lymphoma. > He wants to put her on steroids and an antibiotic. She is also on blood > pressure meds right now. Those two vet visits have wiped out the budget and > I am just praying nothing happens to her. I don't understand how she got > leukemia though. She is an indoor only cat with no contact with cats besides > our others. When she was a kitten she was tested negative and even got a few > vaccines for it. Now I am wondering if this is what killed Gabriel. And I > wonder if the other cats are infected too. I already have a cat with kidney > disease. All of our pets are over age 11. > Thank you for your help. > janet & the gang > > > > > > >________________________________ > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > info/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
