Lymphoma of Guts?

Captain Helen · 12-11-2011, 12:09 PM

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.

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 · 12-11-2011, 01:37 PM

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 · 12-11-2011, 02:32 PM

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

Hugs to to you both xx

dandysmom · 12-11-2011, 04:46 PM

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

farthing · 12-11-2011, 06:24 PM

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 · 12-11-2011, 07:31 PM

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 · 12-11-2011, 07:54 PM

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 · 12-11-2011, 08:06 PM

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 · 12-11-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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

farthing · 12-11-2011, 08:49 PM

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.

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