Friday, May 27, 2011

Sad News

Vash, our 8 1/2 year old male cat, had an ultrasound on Tuesday that pointed to an issue around the kidneys. They thought it was either an infection or cancer. The vet took a tissue sample and we got the results last night.

He has lymphoma of the kidneys. The good news is he's tested negative for Feline Leukemia (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), which means his immune system isn't depressed.

We have a couple of options: chemotherapy to try to get the cancer into remission, or a steroid/antibiotic to help make him more comfortable.

It might be a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with either of these options?

If you'd feel more comfortable sending me a note directly, please email me at: christyv followed by the at symbol, followed by gmail dot com.

Thanks.

6 comments:

KikiRiki said...

I'm so so sorry to hear about Vash Christy. I'll keep him in my thought and hope for good news to follow shortly. I don't have experience with either of those options, sorry, but I'll ask around. *hugs*

Folly Blaine said...

Thanks, Courtney. I appreciate it.

Kristy said...

I have experiance with a dog that had Leukemia . It would of cost about 10 grand for treatment and it was a long shot and wouldn't work. I don't know about cat's with cancer. If you can buy some time and the cat can live comfortable go for it. To me it is all about quality of life for the animal. It will lest buy you a little time to research your options and be able to decide what is best for you and your cat. Sorry , your going through this.

Folly Blaine said...

Thank you, Kristy. I'm sorry to hear about your dog as well.

I agree that the animal's quality of life is most important. I appreciate you sharing your experience.

AZGypsie said...

Christy, I am sorry to hear about your furbaby. I, too, have had the dreaded C come up with my animals and like Kristy said, I would (have) opted for the keep them comfortable option. It took me a bit of soul searching when I made that determination for a beloved dog that was diagnosed with bone cancer. The bottom line is, if you know how horrid chemo is on a human, you would never subject an animal, that has no understanding, to it. You can't explain that its possibly for their own and ultimately, it really only satisfies our need to believe we did everything, because we are the humans (read Gods) in their lives. Its incredibly expensive, is more than likely not going to help your cat and will make its last days so very miserable. I truly believe that goes against my charter as a pet lover which tells me to make my pets life the best possible, not necessarily the longest, but the best! See him comfortable, be with him at the end and you will know you did the right thing.

Folly Blaine said...

Thank you, AZGypsie. I don't think chemo is the route I want to take, but I want to make sure I have all the information first. Once we commit to the steroids we can't go back. I'm sorry to hear about your dog as well.