|
Possible Link between IBD & Lymphoma I have been reading and following both lists, and reading what the vet had written on the other list over the last few years. I told her that from my observations, the cats who have vomiting as the main symptom of their IBD are more likely to develop intestinal lymphoma. The cats who have severe diarrhea as their main symptom often never develop lymphoma, or if they do, it is the slow-growing kind that often responds to Leukeran and Pred. It is still a GI lymphoma, since IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease for those who may not know) can affects that whole path. My own kitties go along with this supposition. Jean-Luc threw up a couple of times a week all his life. I just figured that was just how he was. He didn't seem sick. He did have increased episodes of vomiting the weeks prior to the crisis. And then, the end of October, 2002, he had a severe episode of vomiting blood and bloody stool, eventually leading to the endoscopy and discovery of the aggressive lymphoma in the stomach lining, and signs of mild IBD in the small intestines. Toni, on the other hand, had soft stool all her life. The first thing she ever did when we got her was have an "accident" on my arm in the car on the way home. My husband was yelling, don't let it get on the car! (New Car, Omni.) All her life, she seemed to have problems with soft stool, and when she was around 15 years old, it got really bad. She was skin and bones, with all the food going right through her. We thought we were going to lose her. Then I heard of IBD and the symptoms and joined the IBD group. I talked it over with my vet, and we decided that since I wanted to try the canned food diets mentioned on that list, that we would hold off on giving Prednisone so that there would be no question about what worked. Gradually, on the new diet, she improved, and now, at 20, she is in great shape. Her IBD never led to lymphoma, even though it was basically untreated for years, since I really didn't know what to do for it. (My regular vet first had us try the Hills z/d formula, but that did not help at all. Apparently, it will help if the problem causing the IBD is a problem with the protein source, like chicken, but not if it's aggravated by the grains in most cat foods, since it has grains in it. Toni can only handle rice and possibly oats, not corn, wheat, or soy, and that is true of many IBD cats.) So, Jean-Luc's untreated IBD with symptoms of vomiting all his life may not have led to the lymphoma, but he did develop lymphoma. Toni's untreated IBD with the symptoms of constant, chronic diarrhea never led to lymphoma. I want to point out that none of this was a scientific study, just my own observations which seem to be somewhat consistent when reading a lot of the cases on both lists. ** There does seem to be a possible link between cats with long term, severe IBD & an eventual lymphoma diagnosis. My Buddie, a lifetime IBD cat (vomiting once or twice a week for 9 years) also developed Liver lymphoma, although hers was small cell, slow growing. Belinda Sauro Observations by Theresa Bruker, "Jean Luc's" Mom |