Two of mine, and possible a third (had no palpable tumors and was not definitively diagnosed) died of lymphoma. FeLV+ cats get it a lot, and 4 is an age that is common for getting it. My cat Simon died in February of lymphoma which was in his spleen, liver, and bone marrow.
I would definitely, definitely, definately, no question about it try chemo. Lymphoma is often extremely responsive to chemo-- many people on the lymphoma list serve reported their cats going into remission after the first treatment. It can add up to a year or two of life and make them feel good. Some get side effects, but they are usually very short-lived, like a day or two. FeLV+ cats can respond well to chemo too. The problem is that FeLV+ cats tend to come out of remission more quickly than negatives. However, 1) I have heard accounts of at least two positive cats who went into remission for a year or more, and 2) it's possible that giving Virbagen Omega (feline interferon from Europe) could help them stay in remission. The latter is just a theory, based on the idea that VO controls the virus in some cats and so maybe could make them respond to remission like a negative cat, but it was one I was banking on with Simon. I got the VO, but it came in a few days after he died. If you don't want to do chemo, or if you try it and it does not seem to put him in remission on its own, I would ask for a combo of dexamethasone and depomedrol shots. They are really strong steroids which shrink lymphoma. When Simon stopped responding to chemo the first time and seemed to be dying (so anemic he could not walk without collapsing out of breath), the steroid shots shrunk his tumors enough and corrected his blood values to the point he could get more chemo, which gave him several more weeks. He then suddenly became very anemic again, which the oncologist thought was from an auto-immune reaction to the cancer, which occasionally happens and causes the immune system to kill off the red blood cells. But before that the chemo and steroids were helpig him. I would do chemo and steroids again in a heartbeat. I think you should join the lymphoma list serve as well-- it was helpful to me. I think the address is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/felinelymphoma Michelle
