leukemia

Question
QUESTION: My 2 year old female cat has leukemia. She started vometing 4 months ago and I took her to the vet about 2 months ago. First medication did not work. Then a week later she was spaded. Everything seemed fine, then all of a sudden the same day contracted neumonia and almost died.She was on anti biotics and cordozone for about 10 days without vometing and was eating like abat out of hell! Everything seemed perfectly fine. She gained weight and was close to being her old self! Then she started vometing again exesively.I took her back to the vet. They gave me more anti biotics and cordozone which didn't work at all. I took her back to the vet. She was tested for leukemia and was positive. Now she is on doxycycline and cordozone. The vometing remains and is getting worse. She has no lack of appetite and has never had.instead, she wwants to eat all the time, but throws up every drop every time. Help!! I have tried various kind of foods. Why the vometing?? Its been 4 months...is there anyway to stop the vometing? Is it because of leukemia or not? I want to make it very clear, she has a huge apetite!! Thank you.

ANSWER: It's possible that the appetite is due to her not getting enough nutrition from her food but but the reality is that she has a false appetite from all of the cortisone she has been on.

Prednisone, or prednisilone, whichever one she is on, will stimulate their appetite but once you stop the drugs her appetite is going to disappear.

The weight she gains is also just fat and water- not muscle or lean tissue. Unfortunately with leukemia, which is ultimately fatal, she is going to have these problems with vomiting etc.

Basically you are keeping her going with the drugs, but once you stop them she will most likely decline pretty rapidly. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but those are the facts.

I hope that she will do better- some cats can actually throw the virus and go into a remission, but she has some pretty active symptoms which makes that less likely.

Keep her comfortable and just do what you can for her for now.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your quick reply. She is also vometing mucus most of the time. Your theory on the drugs is unfortunetely incorrect in the case of my cat. I have taken her of the medication to test this theory and she still begged me to be fed. I do not mean to be disrespectful, but this is a fact. Thank you again.

Answer
Well that is very possible- but remember this drug lasts for days in the bloodstream. Having a good appetite is a good thing, but you need to ask the vet about using something like tagamet or some other acid reducer for her. That might help her with the vomiting.
However, if she has tumors growing in her stomach or intestines, she will vomit regardless of what drugs she is on.

I hope she does better soon.