Stacy, you've gotten lots of advise on treating the lymphoma. I just wanted to add the importance of feeding Spanky. Cancer cells consume a lot of calories. Spanky will need 1 1/2 to 2 times his normal calories to help him fight the cancer. You may need to increase the amount you assist feed him to get the calories into him. You can use higher calories canned foods, add meat baby food (no onions or garlic) to his canned foods, try some high calorie kitten foods, etc. to increase the calories per oz of food.
There is a Yahoo Assist Feeding group that may be of help. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-Assisted-Feeding/ You both are in our thoughts and prayers Sharyl --- On Thu, 12/2/10, Stacy Zacher <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Stacy Zacher <[email protected]> > Subject: [Felvtalk] Spanky has large cell lymphoma > To: [email protected] > Date: Thursday, December 2, 2010, 11:31 AM > Hi everyone: > (cross posting on the lists we belong to). > Just a follow-up to the biopsy and post yesterday. I want > to thank everyone for all the help and support during this > time. It means more than you know. The vet called last > night and the pathologist's analysis confirmed what she > initially thought - > Spanky has large cell lymphoma or she called it > lymphoblastic. She thought his blood results weren't bad > for his status. She talked to the oncologist about his > case also and the onc. wants to see him tomorrow morning to > discuss chemo options since I want to try to treat this/ buy > him some more time. > > I know the aggressive chemo protocol is more the IV chemo > plus pill but I'm wary of doing that to his body right now. > I would really appreciate thoughts on types of chemo for > this type of lymphoma - large cell lymphoma for his > mediastinal cranial mass (maybe about 2cm now instead of > 2.5cm when we started prednisolone). He's not eating as > well as he should either and steadily losing weight even > though he seems to eat overnight well and I syringe food him > too. We didn't test the cells to see if they T or B > cells. > > The vet said it varies but they normally follow the UW > Madison protocol for treating this type - Cyclophosphamide, > prednisolone and the vincristine. I want him to have > quality of life over suffering bad side effects. I know > someone wrote that the lymphoma makes them sicker than chemo > so I'm keeping that in mind as well. We discussed > vincristine iv or pill form or doing IV+pill. I'm just > worried about aggressive treatment since he's losing weight, > weaker, FELV+, early HCM, and is not young strong kitty. > He's aged about 10 years in 1 year it seems! > > So much to consider and so confusing! Please send us > healing thoughts any any advice you can before our appt > tomorrow > morning. > > I found an interesting chart on the various protocols from > a vet site but am not sure if I can post the link? > > Purrs, > Stacy and Spanky > > Re: Spanky - blood test/ultrasound - patiently waiting for > biopsy re > Posted by: "stacy_zacher" [email protected] > stacy_zacher > Wed Dec 1, 2010 3:17 pm (PST) > > (cross posting on the lists we belong to). > > Thanks to everyone for all the purrayers and sending > healing thoughts for Spanky. I'm still waiting for the vet > to get his biopsy results back and call me. She said it > could be today or tomorrow. We got there at 9:30am > yesterday, they did a blood panel, quick ultrasound to see > if the mass was still there. It was :-(. > > Regarding his blood test results - everything except his > WBC and related counts were normal last time (about a month > ago). This time his liver values are elevated slightly AST > is 55 (range 14-54), ALT is 147 (range 26-128)(from pred?), > wbc is up from 2400 to 6(from pred?), > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
