leukeran

[Shantismom]

Has anyone here had experience with the chemotherapy drug leukeran. Because my cat has inflamatory bowel disease the vet said we may have to take him off prednisolone if we can't regulate his diabetes. I checked several months ago to see how well cats did on leukeran and the posts were pretty negative. The cats were vomiting, not eating and generally acting sick. I realize that people are more likely to post negative reactions then they are positive ones so I wondering if anyone here knew of any positive results. The leukeran would be to control the bowel problem.

 

[jacereske]

Hi Shantismom,

Our 13 year old kitty Chai was diagnosed with small cell GI lymphoma at the end of last August. Initial treatment was prednisolone 2 x a day and 2 mg of Leukeran every 3 days. She responded well initially. The pred increased her appetite and she gained weight - looked and acted great. After about 3 weeks the Leukeran starting making her very lethargic with little appetite. We took her off of the leukeran and continued with the pred for a week then switched to 1 mg of leukeran every other day (still giving the pred) and we did not see any of the earlier side effects.

Despite feeling very well her liver enzymes started going out of control. In early January her ALT was up to 1400 (normal is 100). We weren't sure if it was the leukeran or the pred. We took her off the leukeran for 2 weeks and they stayed high. So we also took her off the pred and 2 weeks later they returned to normal. So we are pretty confident that it is the pred that was causing the high liver enzymes.

We have put her back on the leukeran and switched her to another steroid Budesenide, which is not supposed to have the same negative side effects as pred. She will get blood tests in about 2 weeks and we are hoping all is well. You may want to ask your vet is the Bedesenide is an option instead of the pred for your kitty. From what I've read it is more effective in the pill form than in the liquid form. Here's some additional info:

http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/av ... ail/588608

A friend of mine runs an IBD website, if you are not familiar with it, here is the website: http://ibdkitties.net/

Best wishes,
Jeanette

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Leukeran is somewhat commonly used for for feline IBD. Its main use is for felin small-cell intestinal lymphoma. My Mariwo used Leukeran for that.
I would talk to your vet about first trying Budesonide. That is a steroid that stays mainly in the GI tract and usually has little effect on BG unlike prednisolone.
I have used Budesonide on three past kitter and just started it for my MurrFee.
If y do use Leukeran I would get it from a compounding pharmacy like DiamondBack or RoadRunner vice getting the pills since the pills are very expensive.
http://catexpert.blogspot.com/2013/01/l ... eline.html

 

[Shantismom]

Thank you so much for your feedback, I have seen some really bad reports about leukeran but they didn't have the dosage amount, since my cat now has become diabetic he may need to get off the prednisolone, budesonide may be a good option.

 

[jacereske]

If you go with the lower dose of leukeran you have to get it compounded because the smallest pill is 2 mg. And yes there is a **huge** price difference. We use Diamondback for the Budesonide and Pet Health Pharmacy (also in Arizona) for the leukeran.

http://www.pethealthpharmacy.com/

The compounded leukeran is a pretty small capsule. We find it is pretty easy to give with this piller that I got on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Buster-Piller-Wit ... B002ZJ8GLE

I always follow up with a syringe of water.

I was amazed at how changing the dosage made such a difference. It does mean pilling more often but if it keeps our baby girl feeling well it is worth it. Also, it was a bit scary at first because when you handle it you have to wear gloves - but like everything else you get used to it.

Best wishes to you.

 

[jacereske]

I also use the piller for the Budesenide because it is a really, tiny pill. Works great. I actually got another piller so I use a separate one for each. They are pretty inexpensive on Amazon.