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My cat has lung cancer. What are the treatment options and prognosis?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 14 years and 8 months old | 10 lbs

We had a 14 year old cat who the vet thought had possible lung cancer from numerous xrays that were taken over a 3 week period. It wasn’t mentioned until the pet had gone downhill significantly about seeing a specialist. What are the treatment options for lung cancer, if any.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Anna M., DVM

Veterinarian

Published on March 11th, 2020

I'm sorry to hear about Duchess. If the lung cancer involved a single tumor (this is rare), surgical removal of the affected lung lobe is possible but is a very invasive surgery that requires a board certified veterinary surgeon. Due to the level of invasiveness and small chance for the surgery being curative, I do not usually recommend pursuing this. If the lung cancer involves numerous small metastatic tumors in the lungs (which is more common), there are frankly no good treatment options. Chemotherapy can sometimes slow the spread and growth of those tumors, but by the time the cancer has spread to the lungs, chemotherapy rarely provides a significant change in the prognosis.

For these reasons, I usually do not push too hard for referral in cases of lung cancer, but instead focus on supportive care and trying to maintain quality of life for as long as we can keep the pet comfortable.

I hope this helps. All the best to you and Duchess.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS
Veterinarian
Published on June 16th, 2020
Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about your cat. First off, I'm so sorry she has cancer. I'm wondering if the tumor is primary (meaning the cancer started in her lungs) or secondary (spread from a cancerous tumor in another part of her body). Knowing that information would be helpful in answering your question, but I will assume that it's a primary tumor. Typically surgery is done to remove that part of the lung that contains the tumor. If surgery cannot be done, chemotherapy can be used. Unfortunately the tumor can reoccur or spread, which is a common cause of death in these patients. In terms of survival one study found that "Cats with moderately differentiated tumors had a median survival time of 698 days (range 19 to 1526 days); poorly differentiated tumors had a survival time of 75 days (range 13 to 634 days). All of the cats died of metastatic disease with a median survival time of 115 days for both groups." It's not good odd I'm afraid. Depending on the severity of the tumor, it may be her quality of life will not be great. The oncologist will speak with you frankly about treatment options and her quality of life. I hope this helps!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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