? Not diabetes, advice hoped for - intestinal mass.

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Anthony Morgan

Anthony Morgan

Member Since 2017
Hi everyone,
I hope it is OK to post on a non diabetes subject and apologies if it's not.
I've not been on the board for a few years. I used to have a diabetic cat and received great help and advice here. I know there are many very knowledgeable people on here and my problem now, is that Jack, around 15 years and FIV positive has been diagnosed with an intestinal mass following an ultrasound. I don't know what type of mass it is but the vets notes are as follows,
'large mid intestinal mass present intestinal wall thickness up to 1 cm in areas and enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes present. Liver, spleen, GB, kidneys, bladder and rest of GIT wnls. ddx lymphoma vs adenocarcinoma, MCT or other. Surgical removal may be possible and in some cases may give good QOL for up to a year depending on diagnosis, plus or minus subjunctive chemotherapy. FIV pos status increases risk of morbidity. Other option palliative care'.
I'm worried about putting Jack through traumatic surgery and how he and I would cope with post operative care. I'm wondering about the possibility of chemotherapy?
If anyone has had a similar experience or can offer advice, this would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!
 
I've not had personal experience with anything other than a cat with IBD. Cats can do well with chemotherapy. They may need to do a biopsy to know exactly what they are dealing with, though.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I've not had personal experience with anything other than a cat with IBD. Cats can do well with chemotherapy. They may need to do a biopsy to know exactly what they are dealing with, though.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply, I'll have to ask my vet, it's a pity this wasn't done at the same time as the ultrasound or perhaps it requires a general anaesthetic?
 
It depends on what kind of biopsy is needed. Gabby needed a biopsy to definitively diagnose the IBD (IBD vs lymphoma). Where the area was, a fine needle aspiration wasn't possible so it was a surgical biopsy.
 
My experience with lymphoma is with small cell lymphoma. That disease is a thickening of the bowels, and not a mass. My current SCL kitty was diagnosed with an endoscopy. But that was because the location of the thickening was reachable by endoscopy. I belong to an SCL online group, and we occasionally see large cell (mass) lymphoma kitties there. And most of them go on to have chemo. Cats handle chemo much better than humans do. Make sure to get good antinausea drugs for home, specifically ondansetron.

Many SCL kitties also need a surgical biopsy. And since it's usually an older cat disease, I've seen the experience of people with older cats getting biopsies for SCL. Most cats do really well with the surgery, though it usually entails an overnight stay as part of recovery. And a couple of days at home with restricted movement. You can get post surgical "suits" or wraps for cats that can help protect the surgery site.

I did have another cat that needed a needle guided biopsy that happened along with his ultrasound. He was sedated, but did not have general anaesthesia. That may depend partly on the cat. Although this one was semi feral, he was really good at vet visits.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
My experience with lymphoma is with small cell lymphoma. That disease is a thickening of the bowels, and not a mass. My current SCL kitty was diagnosed with an endoscopy. But that was because the location of the thickening was reachable by endoscopy. I belong to an SCL online group, and we occasionally see large cell (mass) lymphoma kitties there. And most of them go on to have chemo. Cats handle chemo much better than humans do. Make sure to get good antinausea drugs for home, specifically ondansetron.

Many SCL kitties also need a surgical biopsy. And since it's usually an older cat disease, I've seen the experience of people with older cats getting biopsies for SCL. Most cats do really well with the surgery, though it usually entails an overnight stay as part of recovery. And a couple of days at home with restricted movement. You can get post surgical "suits" or wraps for cats that can help protect the surgery site.

I did have another cat that needed a needle guided biopsy that happened along with his ultrasound. He was sedated, but did not have general anaesthesia. That may depend partly on the cat. Although this one was semi feral, he was really good at vet visits.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the information, I have another vets appointment next Tuesday. Your comments will help with my decision!
 
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