Tumors

[Shirley & Bill]

Hi all, I haven't been around here for a long time and really hate to bother you, but I desperately would like some advice.

Long story short... My daughter moved away from home to a town about 4 hours away from here, and recently decided to come back temporarily because it's easier to find a job here. She isn't planning to be here permanently, just long enough to broaden her work experience and get her finances turned around. She asked if she could bring her cat (she took the cat from here a few years ago) because the cat was sick and she didn't want to leave her with her boyfriend. I said it was ok, and they got here pretty late so I didn't actually see the cat until the next morning. What I saw scared me. The cat was really thin and just looked sick. I had a vet appointment for another cat that day and called to see if I could bring this cat in too, they let me do that. During the exam, the vet palpated her abdomen and felt a large mass. He wanted to do exploratory surgery and said that if he didn't think it was operable he would recommend not waking her up. He mentioned in passing that if it involved her liver, he wouldn't do it. This vet was new at the clinic so we decided to get a second opinion from a trusted vet there. She felt the mass and decided we should have an ultrasound done first to get an idea of what we were dealing with. The ultrasound showed three different masses, two were on the liver with one on each lobe. We scheduled the surgery, and the cat lived through it. The vet said she was surprised that the larger mass didn't already rupture and bleed out before the surgery, it was about .48 pounds and ugly. The third mass she said was like a lump on the body cavity, and she decided to leave that one alone.

The surgery was two weeks ago, and yesterday we had a follow up appointment. The vet was thrilled with how the cat looks, her color is looking a lot better (she was really anemic and had a weird head tremor before), she put on about half a pound (or a pound if you factor in the half pound tumor that was removed) and you can tell the cat feels a lot better. But... the vet was palpating the abdomen and feels another mass. She said it doesn't feel like it's around the liver, and she didn't see anything else when she was removing the two. This isn't the lump attached to the body cavity, it moves around. For now we are putting the cat back on Prednisolone (5 mg/day), we had her on it for a few days after she came home from the surgery to get her eating again. We are going to wait a few weeks and take her back in to see where things stand.

All of this brings me to where I really need advice. Apart from the expense of the surgery, I also do not feel that it would be fair to the cat to keep opening her up if these things keep popping up. Does anybody have any thoughts and advise on homeopathic supplements? Has anyone tried C-Caps? I need to make it clear, this wouldn't be replacing veterinary care, it would be to go with the care. I have an appointment on Thursday with one of my dogs and can discuss any ideas with her.

This vet is wonderful, compassionate, and I feel has a very open mind. Any and all ideas will be discussed with her before I proceed. I should also mention that this is the vet who diagnosed my cat as diabetic about 10 years ago and told me on the phone 'this can be treated, I will show you how. Pick up a glucose meter, the one that takes the smallest amount of blood, and make an appointment. I will show you how to test and tell you how much insulin to use.' She told me how the stress of taking them in to the vet elevates the numbers, and had me start low and go slow. She also recommended FDMB to me.

Thank you in advance for any information that you can share.

 

[nwnews]

HI Shirley, I'm not a tumor expert but the fact that your cat has had multiple tumors and now has another one doesn't sound promising to me. I guess it would depend on the tumor biopsy to see what is going on there. If the tumors are cancerous then I don't think more surgery is going to fix anything because its already metasticized. If it was me I'd ask the vet what the biopsies are showing and then decide if putting the cat through more surgery will be successful. Jan

 

[BJM]

New tumors popping up suggest metastasis - spread of the growth throughout the body. Generally, this means cancer.

Prednisone is often used for palliative care in cancer, until mass effects or other problems reduce quality of life that you decide to euthanize. Sometimes, cancer may cause death through other effects (ex renal failure if kidney is taken over by cancer).

 

[Shirley & Bill]

Thank you... we didn't go for the biopsy. It would have been pretty expensive and the vet felt that it wouldn't tell us anything that we don't already know, basically that the cat has cancer. We discussed using the Prednisone to slow things down even before the surgery, at that point the vet didn't want to start it because it would slow down healing from the surgery. We started that two days after the surgery because the cat wasn't eating. Her appetite came back so she had 5 mg sid for 5 days, 2.5 mg sid for 3 days then she was taken off. Because it is now showing up somewhere else, she is now back on 5 mg sid. I am basically trying to find if there is anything holistic that could compliment the vet care and see if we can slow it down a bit more. As always, I will keep an eye on the cat too, her quality of life is the most important part of all of this. She is only 8 years old...

 

[Jess & Earl]

we didn't go for the biopsy. It would have been pretty expensive and the vet felt that it wouldn't tell us anything that we don't already know, basically that the cat has cancer.

I am very sorry that you got this bad advice. I wish I could sugarcoat it but I can't. A biopsy determines prognosis, guides treatment and palliative care and euthanasia decisions and it can also bring peace of mind. Some cancers are very treatable; some are hopeless; some are slow-growing; some are aggressive and cause horrible side effects; some tumors are actually benign. What kind of cancer does this kitty have? We have no idea. Were those benign cystadenomas on the liver, unrelated to anything else? Who knows. I think it sounds (with the weight loss) that the cat does have cancer somewhere, but there is no medical guidance for what step to take next because no one knows what type of cancer it is. In general, supportive care (keeping her eating, keeping her hydrated) and steroids are palliative for most cats so it's worth a try since without a diagnosis, you can't make a treatment plan.

I'm sorry for you and your daughter and the kitty. I hope everything goes as well as possible and you have some good quality time together.

 

[Shirley & Bill]

I appreciate your words, Jess... Unfortunately the choices for care are extremely limited up here. There are no specialists, and emergency after hours care means the on call vet comes in.

This tumor looked like a huge lumpy gizzard. The vet said she was surprised that it didn't already rupture and bleed out before the surgery. She said the liver wasn't a healthy color and was mushy (possibly fatty liver, too) PCV was 18% before the surgery, at the follow up it was 25%. Her color looks a lot better now, but just 2 weeks after the surgery and the vet is already feeling another mass and said it feels lumpy. She didn't see anything else while she had the cat open (and apparently this didn't show up for the ultrasound) so I am guessing that this cancer is fast growing. Currently she is on S-Adenosyl (100 mg) and Prednisolone (5 mg).

Honestly if it was up to me... I wouldn't have had the surgery done in the first place. Because Bill, My GA, had a tumor on his liver (the cats weren't related in any way) and had surgery to remove it. I was hanging out at the vets office for the surgery and got to go in and see him afterward. I went home, thrilled that he made it through but shortly after we got home the vet called to tell me that we were losing him. He was gone by the time I got there, and that has haunted me ever since. I felt that I caused him needless suffering.

With what is available in our area, I really am not sure that knowing what kind of cancer it is would have made much difference. After the surgery the vet said hopefully we bought her a few more weeks. And with all that I have been reading about concerning feline tumors, it seems that in most cases it is indeed a matter of weeks or months - not years - that the cats survive. So I really have to wonder if it's in the cats best interest to put them through it.