One of my cats has a likely terminal case of cancer, and I’m waiting for a definitive pathology report. If it comes back as lymphoma, chemotherapy has been indicated as a likely option; if it comes back as adenocarcinoma, we’re basically screwed, as lymph nodes are involved.
So I’m heartbroken, but need practical experience on the feline chemotherapy aspect - do cats really tolerate chemotherapy well?
My parents cat tolerated it well. He was 15 or 16, IIRC. It kept him going longer than any other treatment. No hair loss, slight decrease in appetite cured by gooshy foods and some lethargy.
Good Luck!
How old is your cat?
My older cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroid at 16, pretty common for cats at that age. We opted to go for the radiation thyroid treatment instead of the cheaper pills, and she tolerated it well. (Note, however, that I’m not sure how the “radiation thyroid treatments” really worked. I don’t know if they really irradiated her - I kind of doubt it - or if it was a less exotic radioactive pill or somesuch.)
She had to be away at the hospital for a couple of days - they did the treatment, then couldn’t give her back to us until her radiation level dropped below a certain threshhold. (It’s due to a weird law, they told us. Humans can be released, but pets are considered property and so cannot be released until they’re no longer radioactive.) So it was probably stressful, but she was pretty much her old self when she got back.
Unfortunately, it didn’t really help her for too long. As is common in older cats, the over-active thyroid masked an underlying kidney disease. So we fixed the thyroid, but then she was still sick with failing kidneys. Our vet told us that there’s some talented people in Madison that do kidney transplants in cats, so that was an option, but we never seriously considered it. We kept her as long as she seemed comfortable, then had her put to sleep when we felt that she wasn’t.
I’m not saying “don’t go for it,” but I would counsel on getting as much information as possible about all options before going forward.
I’m sorry to hear about your kitty. Best of luck to you.
My Russian Blue, Meep, was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2005, at 5 years old. We were heartbroken–she was my baby, and to lose her so young was really hard on me. But we took her to a feline oncologist and tried chemo–she tolerated it extremely well, and was basically her normal sweet self until about two weeks before we finally decided to let her go because it just wasn’t working anymore. We got eight more good months with her–but it was very expensive. That’s something to consider, if you don’t have pet insurance. I’m honestly not sure I’d do it again, unless I had insurance to help pay for some of it.
We were told that the chemo would likely give her anywhere from a few months to a couple of years, but that full remission/cure was extremely rare and not a realistic thing to hope for. 8 months was less than we hoped for, but by the time it was over, we were ready to let her go and she was ready to go. I still miss her.
ETA: Almost forgot to say: I’m very sorry about your diagnosis, and I hope things work out as well as possible for your kitty.
Your kitty’s age and tolerance for vet visits have a lot to do with whether to treat with chemo. Personally, I think a cat over 10 probably won’t benefit enough to make them go through it. Kitty needs weekly blood checks, so needs weekly trips to the vet for a couple of months. Average treatment is about 8 weeks, and average remission after treatment is about 8 weeks. Averages. YMMV.
I just let my lymphoma girl go about 3 weeks ago. She was 11, and very, very shy. She would let me handle her, but no one else could touch her. Even though I could do the blood draws myself at home, I would need one other person to help me and I just wouldn’t put her through that. She was diagnosed in May, and all I did was steroid therapy. By the time it was “time” her lymph nodes had normalized significantly during the steroid treatment, but she grew herself a huge abdominal tumor. As soon as she missed a meal, I knew she was ready to go. For her, I have every confidence that I did the right thing. She was “herself” until that last day.
There are so many variables for whether you should treat your cat, and whether to do chemo or steroids or nothing. Will kitty tolerate treatment? Will you? As much as pets are family members, budget constraints are certainly a factor, too.
Personally, I feel the cat/dog/pet should be very young to really benefit from harsh therapies through which they may feel some suffering, but live a fairly long life afterwards. Pets don’t understand treatments that make them uncomfortable - they don’t have the same sense of time and future like people do. Where people can withstand certain amounts of suffering because they know it will be over and life will be better afterwards, pets don’t understand, and every day of suffering is an eternity for them. With that thought, that’s why I think older pets don’t benefit as much, to make them suffer for the possibility of one more year, two more years, all of which may be end-of-life, not the best quality of life anyway due to other age-related issues, for many it’s just prolonging the inevitable.
So, after all that, you know your kitty and based on age and whether there are other issues, and how well kitty will take weekly vet visits, and if there are cost concerns…
Whatever you decide I’m sure will be based on what’s best for kitty and not on human need (for some) to prolong life past good quality. The fact that you’re springing for a pathology report (a whole lot of people don’t) tells me already that you’re willing to go extra steps for your pet!
Ours, too: chemo probably gave her an extra year and a half of life, and she tolerated it well up to the end. But it’s insanely expensive, or at least it was when we did it several years ago.
[vet hat on]
Depending on the type of tumor, chemotherapy may be an option. Although, of course, protocols have been designed and developed better for lymphoma since it is one of the most common. And actually, depending on the stage of diagnosis and the physical state the cat is in, it can be a very good treatment with relatively long remission times.
In general, cancer treatment in animals is nowhere near as aggressive as cancer treatment in humans. And please remember, cancer treatment HAS advanced in such way that chemotherapy (depending on the treatment and tumor) is not as crappy as it once was (in humans). Again, pets are usually not subject to the same intensive treatments as humans.
That said, yes, animals, not just cats, usually tolerate the treatment itself OK.
Like SeaDragonTattoo mentioned, though, if the cat is one that will be incredibly stressed out and become demon-kitty every time it goes for treatment, you may want to consider that and evaluate which treatment option to do based on that. But again, that is not a problem of the treatment itself, more of the temperament of the cat.
There are different protocols for treatments, varying on cost and general effectiveness (as measured by remission and survival times).
And yes, in general, chemotherapy treatment is expensive.
[/vet hat off]
We know about an intestinal mass, cancer suspected. Biopsy #1 indicates infection (being treated), but no cancer cells found - they now doubt lymphoma based on the lack of easily accessed “flaky cells”, which in itself makes treatment less useful, as lymphoma is the most treatable option. Biopsy #2 might yield something, but she’s in the 11-12 year range, and I’m not inclined to drag her through Hell over this. She’s a very private cat. Regular, intensive treatment may well stress her out.
As was pointed out above, some other treatments are less intensive. I know a classmate (now veterinarian) of mine, had her kitty diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma. She used one of the lower end treatments (not just steroids). All the drugs the cat had to take where oral, tuna-flavored suspensions.
Cat lasted another year or so with this treatment, and only deteriorated towards the end.
Morbidly curious - what sort of ballpark figures are we talking? Roughly.
Depending on treatment, how the animal responds, remission, tests performed, etc. Also remember that some of these may not be a “one time” payment, but a longer, drawn out process to be paid at regular intervals.
I’ve seen estimates of slightly over $3000. Granted, I’ve also seen cheaper. And I don’t doubt, depending on the region and neighborhood, that it could be higher.
In my case if I had it to do all over again I would not put my cat through it. It was very expensive (there were 2 surgeries as well as medications and special food) and he was sick to some extent or another through out the whole thing.
YMMV, of course.
Yes, it was significantly higher for us, but we live in an expensive area. I joke sometimes that we could have bought Meep her own small car for what we spent on her chemo. We had the spare money at the time and she was worth it, but again, I don’t think I would (or could afford to without a lot more difficulty) go that route again if it happened to another of our cats.
Good advice.
I’ve spent 3.5K on surgery on Bob, whose complete, acute UT blockage nearly killed him.
Dirty is 11-12, and chronic vet visits might drive her nuts. Essentially:
Lymphoma - bad, but Chemo!
Adenocarcinoma - just bad
Mast cell - potentially very managable
Bottom line, I’m thinking that the way to go is preemptive, chronic pain relief and antiinflammatories.
Again, talk it out with your vet. As a future slide-reader, I do like it that clients want to be more informed before making a decision. And who knows, there may be some treatment, even if only palliative, that Dirty can handle and give you some more happy memories together. 
Second biopsy didn’t find any cancer. Infection has cleared. The nature if the presentation suggests a tumor, though lymphoma and mast cell appear to be off the table. Without surgery, we don’t know what the cells are.
Whatever it is, we seem to be in the early stages - next step requires surgery, if we’re going that route. Resection of the affected intestinal mass, repair of the intestine. We suspect something like adenocarcinoma, or a sarcoma or the like.
Fuck.
Update
She’s 12 days postop, histopath indcates B Lymphoma.
Need advice.
All I can do is link you to a couple of credible articles on feline lymphoma,
One from Washington State U, and the other from Marvista. They’re full of information, and they fully acknowledge the information conflicts itself. Both talk about chemotherapy and the benefits/drawbacks. My girl Katydid, who was not a candidate for chemo because she would not mentally handle it, was diagnosed in June, got steroid therapy (prednisolone - 5 milligrams twice a day - a HUGE amount for a 7 pound cat!), and she did well until her final day in September. The doctor who assisted me with the euthanasia said the tumor in Katydid’s abdomen was the largest she had ever seen in a cat. It’s amazing she was still eating, drinking, and playing with string toys right up to that last 14 hours.
So, it’s really a judgment call. You have to do what will work best for you and your cat’s mental health as well as financial and quality of life, you know? Some people are comfortable with knowing this diagnosis is a life-ender, and are comfortable with keeping the kitty as comfortable and as happy as possible with full knowledge that a sudden trip to the vet (or an emergency home-visit) is going to be soon down the road, and they’re OK with that. Think of it as hospice. Some people are not comfortable with that and feel like it’s giving up. In these cases, “everything” must be done first, surgery, chemotherapy, and even some holistic healing when worked in with the traditional medicine can extend kitty’s life. I know plenty of people who are not comfortable with letting their pet go unless absolutely everything has been done to prevent it. And there’s nothing wrong with that, so long as kitty’s quality of life doesn’t suffer in the meantime.
So, measuring your family’s personal values, kitty’s quality of life, family finances, and just how far you’re willing to go or not go are all factors that have to be weighed. It’s not easy, and I’m sorry you have to go through this. 
Well, we did resect the mass before we had an adequate path sample, so we hopefully bought her some time. The surgeon wants 4 weeks of additional confinement, and I’ve walled off part of the office to serve as a “super crate” to support this.
As far as I know, additional treatment must wait until the internal areas have healed. Then it’s a matter of treatment. I’ll check your information, get a copy of the path report, and pick my vets(plural) brains.
Thanks, and sorry about your cat’s experience. These long goodbyes are hard, but bittersweet.
OP Update
We’re at dose #3 of chemo, and she’s producing clean scans. She’s also on daily prednisone. She’s gained weight through each phase of treatment and so far, all is well.
We’re about 9-10 weeks out, 6 weeks post-op plus ~3 weeks into chemo.