Carcinomatosis

[tinabean671]

My beloved almost 14 year old cat has just been diagnosed with carcinomatosis with hypoechoic masses in the mesentery. My heart is broken and I trust my Vet completely, but I can't help but think that there might be some miracle treatment out there to save his life. He is not in any pain, but does have trouble eating. Our Vet said it is probably a matter of weeks that we have left with him. He is a truly remarkable cat with an uncanny will to live as he was diagnosed with diabetes and was in remission within a month of insulin therapy. Is there anything that we can give him or anywhere we can take him to beat this thing??  Please help. My fiance says I am being selfish and belittling our Vet, but I love him so much I thought after he kicked the diabetes that we would have more time with him.  Thank you for for time and consideration. Sincerely and with heavy heart. Tinabean

[Spunky15]

My beloved cat  Mandingo was just diagnosed yesterday and my heart is breaking. He is just shy of 16 and my only cat. I started with 4 and 2 of them lived to be 20, so I was hoping ultrasound would show something not serious, but he has tumors throughout which is why he stopped eating. I brought him home and he is on steroids , pain med and anti-nausea pills until I see him worsening and the inevitable happens.For now he is eating and purring next to me on the couch as usual, so I am savoring each moment as I brace myself for the inevitable. At least he will be in good company with his many brothers and sisters and we have had wonderful yrs together...although no matter how many, it is never enough.

[Jules714]

PS....I'm so very sorry to hear about Opus.  
Like you, my life will never ever, be the same.

j.

[Jules714]

Thank you for the kind words.  It is all so raw...it's only been five days.  I feel like I've lost a limb.  Hell...I feel like I've lost them all.

I can only hope and pray I saved him from future suffering.
I watched a video today on youtube of a dog receiving chemotherapy; and it broke my heart.  I could never put my boy through that...I just couldn't.

Wish I could have taken his place.
Thank you for this forum and a place to share; it means a lot.

I'm learning more about pet cancer and hope to keep my boys' page a place for people to learn a little more - as there is a lot out there and it can be confusing.  To know others have gone through it also...means so much.

Blessings.
Jules
www.dedicatedtoelwood.wordpress.com

[opus88]

Jules welcome to our site...I was so moved by your loving story of your dear kitty, it is so very sad to loose the ones we love so dearly..I'm so sorry for your loss.
My 'special' kitty was Opus and it took me years to stop grieving over him, to this day I miss him terribly and its been nearly 7 years after I too had to make such a difficult decision.
We do have our precious memories in our hearts forever!!

thank you as well for the link to the site for anyone needing information ♥

[Jules714]

My beloved had Carcinomatosis as well, with ascites and anemia.
Our story is here, and we hope it might help others out there.

http://www.dedicatedtoelwood.wordpress.com

Jules

[4princess]

Hi I am in the same position you were in, I am thinking of chemo, did you try it?

[aviesmom]

With regards to the question about chemotherapy in pets.  My cat has carcinomatosis with acites and we had made several visits to the university vet.  We are quite lucky in Wisconsin to have a strong veterinary oncology program.  I met many pet owners who have chosen chemotherapy for their pets and have had good success in improving time and quality of their pets lives.  The doses most vet oncologists use are much much less than we would use to treat human patients and their is a much lower incidence of toxic side effects that we associated with human chemotherapy.  While chemo is not particularly helpful with carcinomatosis, it may provide some relief.  And at $300/txt I do not think it is cost prohibitive for many pet owners.  Certainly, it is not "experimental" and it IS available to the public at most university hospitals.  

[Savas]

I'm sorry to hear kitty is so sick.

...I would say get a second, even third opinion from an other vet (a reputable one at an animal hospital) even if you do trust your vet. At the very least it will set your mind at rest.

The problem with any treatment that involves chemotherapy, intensive surgery, or other (make you feel terrible to get better) treatment is when it comes to animals, you can't explain to them "this is for your own good".

So inevitably, they do tend to just give up and die from the treatment itself.

So yes, while I have heard over the years of potential experimental treatments for this (which are very expensive, if even available to the public), they also tend to have an incredibly low (almost non existent) success rate, and tend not to make it out of clinical trials.

Good luck, and I hope you do hear something positive.