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

Question

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

Anna M., DVM · Accepted Answer

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.

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

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