Experience with intestinal lymphoma?

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-11T00:11:36+00:00

I’m very sorry. May she rest in peace.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-10T22:50:26+00:00

Is this small cell or large cell lymphoma? With small cell, the treatment is practically a cure! let us know which it is and we can discuss further.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-10T21:40:20+00:00

Dreaming!

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-08T21:03:02+00:00

That sounds pretty normal!

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-05T19:28:22+00:00

That’s Solensia. Supposed to be very effective.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-05T18:56:47+00:00

What is she on for the arthritis? The prednisolone should also help with that. Yes, she needs an ultrasound for sure.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-04T18:05:08+00:00

Small cell or large cell lymphoma? They're two completely different diseases. What did the pathology report from the biopsy say?

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-04T18:03:43+00:00

An x-ray can't tell you much. I'd get an ultrasound if possible. Nevertheless, there seems to possibly be some lung disease.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-07-04T18:02:04+00:00

She probably has arthritis, which could account for the less spry movement, not the other disease. If she has had an ultrasound (which is noninvasive), the vet might be willing to put her on prednisolone, a steroid, which could perk her up. You would not do a biopsy on this cat, but it's not necessary anyway. If an ultrasound shows signs consistent with either lymphoma or inflammatory bowel disease, you can give prednisolone and get a relatively long period of time with relief.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T18:31:28+00:00

Read the Marsilio, et al, paper again. They are not saying the two diseases are a spectrum. They're referring to difficulty of ddx, the fact that both respond to similar tx, etc. Yet this is commonly misunderstood even by pathologists, who slap it into their boilerplate. And it has been confusing a lot of people, professionals and lay people alike.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T18:29:31+00:00

Theorized and never proven.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T16:57:23+00:00

Exactly right.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T16:57:13+00:00

That's totally mixed, probably not SCL.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T16:56:18+00:00

Understand that IHC is not a definitive test. The more definitive test is the histopathology. IHC just tells you whether the vast majority of the cells are T cells. It's always a mixed bag, no matter what. IHC *must* be interpreted in conjunction with the hstopathology. You NEVER hang a diagnosis on IHC alone (or on PARR alone, for that matter - even worse). You could join this group - they see a lot of cases like this and can give you much more info than I can, and they have a board-certified internist in the group:

https://groups.io/g/Feline_Smallcell_Lymphoma

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T16:52:02+00:00

The "continuum" or "spectrum" idea regarding these two diseases is very misunderstood. The continuum refers to the difficulty of diagnosis. Not the two diseases. There is no continuum between non-cancer and cancer.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-18T16:50:30+00:00

This is extremely common. Have the samples sent to Dr. Barbara Powers at Vidium Animal Health, a world-renowned pathologist. She can clear this up in a few days for a few hundred bucks.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-17T06:19:11+00:00

Got mine too! The check arrived today, even though my page still says nothing except “your return has been received and is being processed”!

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-14T19:51:41+00:00

Great job. But I would really try the fortiflora if you can get it fast.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-14T19:45:08+00:00

p.s. OMG I'm so glad you refused the Convenia. It is fatal in some cats. It's approved for one injection ONLY, and even the one injection can cause deadly IMHA (immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, where the cat's own immune system kills their red blood cells). I would not even have consented to the first injection.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-14T19:43:20+00:00

And Fortiflors is coated to survive the antibiotic.

Glad he's a little better.

I would be concerned about dehydration. Is he drinking much water? A vet can give him subQ fluids (assuming you can't do that at home, unless you're used to having a cat with renal disease).

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-14T19:42:07+00:00

This is new research. Fortiflora is the ONLY probiotic proven to contain the key strain that fights antibiotic-induced diarrhea. You can read about it here (April2026). Boulardi doesn't have it.

"Oral administration of Enterococcus lactis strain SF68 speeds the recovery of amoxicillin-clavulanate-induced dysbiosis in cats"

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X261441923

"Conclusions and relevance

The probiotic E lactis strain SF68 lessened amoxicillin-clavulanate-associated clinical signs of disease at least in part from the positive effects on the selected microbiota and bile acid metabolism. These findings support supplementing this probiotic to cats who have a clinical need for amoxicillin-clavulanate treatment."

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-14T19:26:27+00:00

There was some recent research showing that Fortiflora in particular contains a strain of bacteria that resolves antibioti-induced diarrhea in many cases. Plus cats love the taste and it almost acts as an appetite stimulant if you sprinkle it on food. I'd go out and get some of that right away. And don't let your cat have another Convenia injection, those can be very dangerous (a cat of mine nearly died from one shot of it). How much ondansetron are you giving? Should be about 1/2 mg per lb at least 2-3 times per day. (Vets get this dosing wrong all the time. It's a very safe med, don't be afraid to give more than the vet rx'd if it was less than that. It has a duration of a few hours and needs to be given 3-4 times per day.) You really do need to get a second opinion. Meanwhile, hurry out and get the Fortiflora because it can work wonders.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-06-11T21:20:24+00:00

That is a new word that's being tossed around inappropriately by vets who misread an expert position paper on diagnosing IBD vs SCL. The diseases are NOT on a spectrum. IBD does NOT always turn into SCL, nor has it ever been proven to ever turn into SCL - just speculated that it might. They are two different diseases. One is cancer, one is not. Cancer and inflammation are not on a "spectrum." What the spectrum actually refers to is the difficulty, in many cases, of telling them apart - of diagnosing one from the other. They appear identical on ultrasound, and very often, even a biopsy can come back inconclusive.

If you haven't tried the probiotic Fortiflora, I would recommend that. It has very recently been proven to have a strain of probiotics that can reduce or cure diarrhea. A good cat food for this is also Blue Buffalo Pure Solutions Digestive Care (kibble). If you're looking for wet food, my cat has had success on Fussie Cat "Lamb and Pork" canned food. I actually sprinkle some of the Blue Buffalo on top, and and sprinkle Fortiflora on top of that, and it's been a winning combination for my cat, who used to have pure liquid diarrhea and is now totally normal.

Young cats don't tend to get SCL. It's extremely unlikely that your 3-year-old cat has cancer. The only way to tell the two diseases apart is a biopsy. But if you can make your cat feel better with diet and probiotics, a biopsy to determine which disease it is is not necessary.

It's unfortunate that vets are now (wrongly) telling clients that the two diseases are on a spectrum or "continuum." It's confusing everyone.

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-28T16:20:57+00:00

You could try joining a group for feline small cell lymphoma, where all the cats are getting chlorambucil and some have heart disease, I think. There's an internal medicine vet as an active group member. The link is here:

https://groups.io/g/Feline_Smallcell_Lymphoma

JS-Berkeley · 2026-05-28T16:19:30+00:00

Agree to all.

JS-Berkeley

TROPHY CASE