Hi Michelle, Buddies cancer was primarily in her liver the xray showed it was enlarged, not a lot but diffently enlarged. They did a biopsy and ultra sound and when the sample was sent in cancer cells were present. Her cancer was not a tumor but spread throughout, the vet suspected her spleen and gall bladder were involved also. Buddie was on vincristine (IV given at vets) and prednisolone for what should have been the first 4 weeks and then was to continue with prednisolone and clorambucil (oral chemo sometimes called leukeran, pill given at home every 2 or 3 days) indefinetly. We never got to the chlorambucil because Buddie was one of those rare kitties that didn't do well on chemo and by the third week had quite eating altogether. I literally had to hold a bowl of food in front of her every 15 minutes for about 3 weeks to get her eating normal again. I didn't get hardly any sleep because she ate the best at 3 or 4 in the morning. She did get 3 weeks of her chemo which was enough to kick the cancer down enough and the prednisolone kept it at bay for a year. Most kitties have little or no side affects and in retrospect I think it was the cancer being killed that was actually making her sick, if I knew then what I know now I would have continued the chemo or atleast tried it for a bit longer. Buddie was one of those kitties that didn't like handling or going to the vet and the stress of that I'm sure had a lot to do with how she reacted to the treatments, it was very stressful for her.
I decided to do the tube because as hard as she fought to beat the sepsis infection I wanted to give her every chance, initally when my vet mentioned at some point we may need a feeding tube early in Buddies cancer diagnosis I thought no way, but Buddie was fighting so hard I had to give her that chance. If I hadn't been able to get her to eat during those 3 weeks while doing chemo I would have done it then too, although maybe not as wholeheartedly, and it probably would have taken more convincing on my vets part. The first thing you need to do if it turns out that Simon does have cancer is find out what kind exactly, is it small cell slow growing (this is what Buddie had), or the more aggressive faster growing cancer, each is treated differently. With the more aggressive cancer, treatment should start right away and they usually use more chemo drugs. I also belong to a group for feline lymphoma and there is a wealth of info about the different kinds of cancers and treatments respectively, some kitties on the list are 2 and 3 year after diagnosis and going strong, many have been brought back from the brink of death more than once, but you need a good oncologist even if your vet is doing the chemo and only consulting with one, that's what my vet did, she consulted with Greg Ogilvie her mentor in vet school (she went to Colorado State University). He is in private practice now in CA. somewhere. That list is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/feline_lymphoma Even though Buddie is gone I stay on them because there is so much to learn and be prepared should any of my other babies have any problems in the future, and they are a great group of people. I hope Simon does not have cancer and you can get him eating again. Lots of prayers coming to him to eat and get strong and to you to get through this. -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls Vote For Us http://www.bemikitties.com/toplist/cgi-bin/topsites.cgi?id=1 ----------- Web Design Porfolio http://www.bemikitties.com/bmksamples.htm#portfolio
