You My six year old cat was just diagnosed with pulmonary neoplasia and the animal hospital said her lungs were completely spider webbed. They referred us to an oncologist for treatment. What are her chances with treatment and what is her quality of life going to be? I do not want her to suffer.

Updated On June 16th, 2020

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

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Thank you for contacting 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!

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