Hi Barbara,
I am sorry to hear that Jelly may have lymphoma. The good news is that lymphoma can be very responsive to chemo. Even when it's located in the kidneys, liver, spleen, stomach, or intestines chemo can be very effective. However, lymphoma can also be a very aggressive cancer, and so time is very important. The sooner you start chemo, the better Jelly's chances are.
I don't know how much info about chemo you have, but cats do not have the terrible side effects to chemo that people have, usually there are no side effects or they are mild and transitory. You can start the chemo protocol and see how Jelly responds, if he doesn't do well you always have the option to stop. The protocol for lymphoma often starts with vincristine, either given at the same time as one treatment of elspar is given, or a week after elspar is given (I have read that including a treatment of elspar at the begining gives the chemo a better prognosis), then followed by cytoxan, and adriamycin. Then the v,c &a are repeated. Pred is also given during the treatment. If you wanted to do holistic approaches many believe they can be useful additions, but without chemo a cat's time with lymphoma is usally very short. I don't know if you are seeing an oncologist, if not I hope that you will at least do a consult with one. They know so much more about lymphoma than even excellant regular vets do. Often I have heard regular vets telling folks that with chemo the prognosis is for 3 to 6 months. Those are just the statistically averages. Many individual cats have a much longer time, some are cancer free long after the chemo. They think that the prognosis for Felv+ is not as good as for Felv- cats, but again those are statistics, not individual cases.
You might want to join the feline lymphoma group on yahoo.( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) I have been a member there for a 18 months. It is a very caring group of people with a huge about of info. Both my beautiful Harry and Abby had lymphoma, the chemo gave them an excellant quality of life. Please email me if you have other questions. Best to you and Jelly, Karen
Hello, Thank you all for being here. Just when i thought my life could get back to normal, my youngest furkid became sick. My 2 1/2 yr old neutered male cat Jelly Roll's blood work came back -besides stomatitis, anemia-the lab also found large lymphoid cells.(he's been postive since being tested at 3 months) My "regular" vet has now put him on interferon, amoxi and clindamycin. He had been totally asymptomatic before this week when suddenly he ran a high fever-almost 106. he stayed 2 nights at the vet on iv and after one day on the 3 meds, his temp was normal and he ate all his breakfast there so I got to bring him home. The vet wants to see how he feels in a week and then we need to decide about chemo-vincristine/methotrexate/cytoxan. the problem is the chemo could help his lymp. but might activate his fip. Has anyone gone thru chemo for lymphosarcoma? how much time did it buy your furkid? (I just lost my beloved 14 yr old lab mix to cancer this summer--one day after starting chemo which had been a long shot anyway due to her advanced condition--but at least she had a beautiful last morning at the beach-playing submarine in the water, ate her lunch and then died 30 mins. later). anyway, so naturally the thought of chemo has me nervous never mind the fip which I lost a cat to years before. Jelly Roll had been on ambrotose, MegaC and a chinese immunity herb from an alternative med Chn. vet I took him to after his first diagnosis. (however he's almost an hour away and the car ride stresses Jelly roll terribly). I wasn't able to get hold of the Chn. vet when this crisis started so went to my regular vet. What supplements can I give him during this week? should I give him acidophilus? His white blood cells were okay, his hemoglobin, hemotocrit and platelet count were all low. glucose, creatnine adn protein were all high. I hate this is happening again. I rescued Jelly roll and his two sisters from a local kill pound along with a sickly black kitten. the black kitten-Lenny and Jelly tested postive. one sister died suddenly though she was the biggest healthiest looking one.Lenny died before her 1st b'day. the remaining sister Seven Layer is fine(and negative). Jelly always slept under my chin as a baby and still tries to even at 11 lbs. What is the life expectancy for lymphosarcoma w/o chemo? guess I was just in a state of shock when I got the bad news from the vet that I dstupidly idn't think to ask. sorry this is so long. thanks for listening. Barbara
--
