Cancer or Not? Leukeran or not?

[ydono]

Hi. We previously posted about our Cat (Dana - 12 yrs old) who had was diagnoses with kidney issues. The vet has since decided that perhaps her real problem is cancer (since the cre and bun levels were not all that high). The vet is also thinking, though, that the bloodwork numbers that indicate cancer are not that high either.

Our cat's symptoms is weight loss (5 lbs in 2 years). She is quite thin right now and has muscle loss and weak hind legs. She doesn't eat too much unless we do "room service" - then she eats it all up really fast. ("Room Service" is when we bring it to her and she sits up and gobbles it.) She was also getting lethargic, sleeping in different places than usual, anti-social.

Vet has gone with a diagnosis of slow growing "gut disease" (lymphoma) and has prescribed 2 mg of Leukeran 2x a week and 1 1/2 pred daily. She is now really, really lethargic and stares off. Sometimes she gets bursts of energy. She will still eat a good amount - sometimes on her own - sometimes via "room service". We cut her back to 1 pred daily - but she is still out of it.

We're not liking the side effects of the drugs - especially when we're not really sure it is cancer. Has anyone had a similar situation where the numbers aren't really high enough to indicate cancer or kidney disease - yet their cat is having these symptoms?

Also, has anyone else used Leukeran and then had it be successful - with your cat now in remission? Was your cat lethargic the whole time? Our vet indicated that she would be on the drugs the rest of her life and that there are NO side affects. We can't be the first to see this in our cat....

Any thoughts or feedback would be most appreciated.