Lymphoma of Guts?

[Captain Helen]

Hi everyone. Sorry to come back just because I need help!

My 12.5 year old cat Salem has been referred to the specialist in Liverpool. His main symptom has been weight loss.

So far they've found he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and the heart murmur he's had for years has now been graded a 4. He's not in heart failure though, and doesn't need to see the cardiologist again for another 6 months. He's been given beta blockers and has to avoid stress.

The difficult part is that they've found inflammation in his guts and on his lymph nodes. This could be inflammatory bowel disease, or it could be lymphoma. :cry:

He's going back for surgery next week to get biopsies. The GA is high risk because of his HCM, but the anaesthetist will monitor him closely.

So, does anyone has any experience of lymphoma of the guts?

Thank you.

[angieh]

So sorry to hear about Salem's health problems. Also sorry that I cannot offer any advice - hope someone comes along soon who can.

[Velvet]

So sorry to hear this about the wee man. Ive no experience.

Hugs to to you both xx

[dandysmom]

Sorry, I to am ignorant about this; hope someone is familiar with it,

[farthing]

We have a cat with IBD, we were in the same position because it is quite hard to diagnose without a biopsy. We decided not to do this because Candy was 13 and had a heart murmur, my vets said the treatment for both was pretty much the same, as in steroids would be used to treat the symptoms. Her eosinophils have always been high and my vets concluded she was more likely to have IBD because high eosinophils indicate either a high worm burden or an allergy. Can't is still here on a gluten free diet and she is 15 now. We have avoided steroids as best we can because of her heart murmer, they can increase the deteriotation if the heart. I hope it ends up to be IBD, but please make sure you ask about the relevant risks associated with steriods and heart conditions,if you vet wants to use them and compare the risk of treating or not if this is they do.

[Velvet]

I can second farthings post re steroids. The vets think the use of steroids (skin problems) may have exacerbated Katie's renal disease. She has a bad skin flareup now and all we can do is sit it out with antihistamines. Steroids would have controlled it within a day, however they are not wthout risk & we won't be using them again.

[Captain Helen]

Thank you all. :)

Yes, the vet has mentioned the risk of steroids with Salem's heart problem. I don't know if there's an alternative or if they'd use a low dose.

If it is IBD does that mean Salem would need a gluten free diet? Is that a special food you get from the vet? He loves his biscuits more than meat, is it possible to get gluten free biscuits?

[farthing]

I think it depends on what is causing the IBD. We have a dog with a gluten allergy so thought we would try it with her. We tried all the sensitivity food and she wouldn't eat it. We decided to try all the cats on hi- life which is 60% meat and tapioca. She's doing well on that.

[Velvet]

I think it depends on what is causing the IBD. We have a dog with a gluten allergy so thought we would try it with her. We tried all the sensitivity food and she wouldn't eat it. We decided to try all the cats on hi- life which is 60% meat and tapioca. She's doing well on that.

Farthing - is there a canine equivelent in the hi-life range?

[farthing]

Hi Velvet, are you looking for a gluten free dog food, we feed ours chudley sensitive or classic, both are gluten free and very reasonably priced ( we feed all our with it so that's 7 fairly large dogs). Hi- life also do dog food but it is a bit too expensive for us to feed all ours. Woofcol also doña salmon and potato which we found good for Bruno's allergy but it's a bit too expensive to feed them all on it.
Hope this helps.

[Elaine]

Sorry to hear about your kitties problems. My Bernie, who is aprox 10+ has a suspected lymphoma high in his abdomen. My vet said that this cannt be confirmed without a biopsy and that treatment for his supected lymphoma has a very poor success/prognosis rate.
We have decided NOT to put him through the stress of a biopsy, he is eating and toileting ok, his weight fluctuates a little and he has lost muscle tome in his chest, this is thought to be because of a secondary lymphoma but as I say he is bright and happy for now.

[Captain Helen]

Thank you everyone.

Salem had surgery yesterday to take biopsies. I was so worried about the risk of the GA with his heart problem! He made it through the surgery and is doing well.

The surgeon said that his lymph nodes are not as large as they were expecting, and his pancreas is bumpy, both things that would point more towards IBD.

We won't know for sure until we get the biopsy results back later in the week, but she said she would be surprised if it was lymphoma.

I've recently switched Salem and the new cat family onto Tesco Finest. Unfortunately he has spent most of his life eating Whiskas and Felix, which I'm sure can't of helped!

Would sticking to a 40% meat cat food with extra fresh chicken or fish be enough to help him do you think? Or should I expect to be advised to try a radical diet change?

[Elaine]

If he has IBD or pancreatitis, I think a switch of food is the way forward but it may be a long road as you may have to find out exactly what he can and cannt tolerate.
My wee dog has IBD and almost a year on, she is still on steriods and prescription food, I am struggling to reduce the steriods to the doseage needed for her to undergo a blood test to check what her allergies are.