Why did my cat die from lymphoma with normal blood work results?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If there is lymphoma, it is not going to show on bloodwork in any specific way. There are certainly values that may be abnormal if a patient is affected by lymphoma though they are not specific for lymphoma. Regardless, Artie does not have any of the things I would expect abnormal with lymphoma. This bloodwork is concerning for hyperthyroidism and renal disease. Both of these can cause anorexia and vomiting. It is very important to discuss with your veterinarian further treatment options based on these findings. They have more knowledge on the case and should be able to recommend accordingly. Best of luck!

These are great questions. Contrary to popular belief, most cancer patients in veterinary medicine have completely unremarkable bloodwork. Just because there are many extra lymphocytes in the walls of the intestines, does not mean there are extra lymphocytes in the blood stream - where our sample comes from. We can be suspicious of it from an ultrasound but cannot truly diagnose it without the biopsy. As for the second part, small cell lymphoma is a disease that affects large sections of or almost the entire small bowel. It is not a single mass that can be removed. Luckily for you, small cell lymphoma responds well to chemotherapy in most cases. Best wishes to you and Trixie.

I am so sorry for your loss. I don’t see your kitty’s age, but if he/she was older, I would be most suspicious that he/she had cancer somewhere. Even though FeLV negative, it’s still possible that cancer developed in her bone marrow due to an unknown cause. (Which unfortunately is usually the case with cancer). When all of the blood cells are low, primary bone marrow disease (cancer, immune mediated disease) may be to blame. It’s also possible that there was cancer elsewhere and the bone marrow stopped working due to either spread of the disease or because of what we call a “paraneoplastic syndrome”, which is just a fancy way to say that unfortunately cancer sometimes does whatever it wants. I am so sorry again for your heartache. It sounds like you did everything you could have for your cat. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Please let us know if we can help you further.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am so very sorry for your loss. It sounds like your cat was very ill and really took a turn for the worse suddenly. It is really quite hard to say whether or not it was too late on this one. Cats are very stoic creatures and sometimes it is not easy to pick up on signs of illness or these signs may not be easily noticed. If it was FIP (feline infectious peritonitis), cats with this disease can become sick very quickly and typically will not make it past a week after diagnosis. The presence of a tumor can have vague signs but can end rapidly depending on what time of tumor so it can be hard to say for sure. It sounds like you did everything you could for him at the time. Sometimes things do worsen and progress rapidly despite all efforts. You certainly did the right thing to bring him into a veterinarian. Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am so sorry for the loss of your cat P! Cats are very good at hiding illnesses until they are very sick. Jaundice in cats can be from: 1) destruction of red blood cells. They tend to be anemic on blood work. This can be from blood parasites, cancer, immune problems 2) Liver disease: cancer, infection, toxin, inflammatory conditions or fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). Fatty liver is a secondary condition. Prolonged anorexia is usually the cause. Anything that makes a cat stop eating for more than 3 days can cause fatty liver disease and 3) Gall bladder, biliary or pancreatic disease: infection, cancer, gall stones, biliary obstruction. P didn't die from an overactive thyroid. She died from whatever disease caused her to stop eating, that could have been liver disease or another disease that caused fatty liver syndrome. She sounded like she was very sick. I hope this provides some insight. Again I am sorry for your loss.

Hello, I am very sorry to hear about your dog Brewki's passing. Unfortunately, I do not have enough information to give you a good answer. I would have to know what type of white blood cells were elevated and how low the red blood cell count was to be of much help. Without all of the medical records it is extremely hard to give council. If you would like, you can chose to do a private consult with one of our vets. That way you can chat back and forth and if you have copies of the bloodwork you can upload those results. I agree with the previous veterinarian though, the Clavamox and Doxycycline administration together likely had nothing to do with his passing. Those two antibiotics are often given concurrently without incidence. When an animal passes away unexpectedly, the only real chance you have to know what may have caused the death is to have a necropsy (autopsy) done on the body but even with that, often times we don't get a definitive answer. Hope this helps somewhat. Best wishes.

I'm so sorry you suddenly lost your cat! Without seeing her in person, I can't say for certain what caused her to pass away, but I can make some guesses. In senior cats, cancer is common, and because our animals can't tell us what is going on with them, oftentimes we find that they are suffering from cancer but we don't know it until it's too late. It could be possible that your kitty had cancer, and it ultimately took her life. She could have also been suffering from kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, or other organ failure. I hope my guesses may give you some peace of mind, and again I'm sorry for your loss :-(