Cat diagnosed with gastrointestinal lymphoma. Leukeran?

[friendofcats]

Hello,

My 16-year-old cat has been diagnosed with gastrointestinal lymphoma after a manual exam by a vet at a PDSA hospital.

Our cat stayed over at the hospital for two nights for fluid therapy (she also has chronic kidney failure).

When we collected her, we asked about medicine called leukeran and also prednisolone. The vet said that because of her age it would be pointless to give her medication and she would not be able to handle the medication because of her kidneys.

We disagree with her view because our cat has had kidney failure for 1+ years and she shows no outward signs of illness. This is the first time she has been to this vet so they didn't have any past results to compare these with. We think her kidneys were probably just as bad a year ago.

We desperately want to try leukeran and prednisolone which have been shown in a study to significantly increase life expectancy of older cats suffering from intestinal lymphoma: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092124/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is also very likely that most of the cats in that study also had chronic kidney failure, but this did not stop the vet treating their cancer with leukeran and prednisolone.

We are going to go and see a private vet to see if they will prescribe prednisolone. We are unsure if leukeran is available from vets in the UK. Can anyone with any knowledge of this tell us please? Where could we get leukeran from otherwise?

Thanks

[Crewella]

It's definitely worth speaking to another vet. My Minnie is 19 and has been on Prednisolone for the last year due to various gastrointestinal problems. She was starting to lose weight again, so my vet has just started her on Leukeran teice a week as a last ditch attempt to keep her going - so far so good.

I should warn you, though - it's scarily expensive!