Cancer in a cat's chest.

Hi there,

I hope this wont be too long, but I want to provide the history of the situation, as I am really confused and scared right now about my kitty Scratch (13 YO male neutered cat). He has lost some weight over the past 8 months or so. I brought him to the vet in January and we did an Ultrasound, which showed a mildly enlarged spleen and mildly enlarged liver but for the most part, nothing remarkable in the results, so we did not do much other than try a prescription food (which he didnt like). He is a very picky eater (will love a certain brand of wet or especially dry food for a couple weeks and then no longer cares for it, and then I switch it up and the cycle starts again). I tried to not switch much anymore as I know this isnt good for his tummy. He stopped eating his dry food and I noticed he's been looking a bit thinner since then (though he's eating wet food fine). About 3 weeks ago, he started having coughing attacks, which I thought was a hairball. I tried giving all sorts of hairball remedies but nothing ever came up and he continued the coughing which became more frequent. His breathing rate was also ~40-47 breaths/min so I brought him to the vet on Wednesday. Found out he lost ~2 lbs (from 10.5 lbs in Jan). We did Xrays, which showed a possible Mass above his heart which the vet said could either be inflamation of lymph nodes or a tumor, but hard to know. She prescribed Terbutaline and Clavamox. She called the next day with Blood results, and said the abnormalities were high liver values and calcium levels, which is often seen with cancer. As for options, she said the only reason to do further diagnostics would be if I would want to do Chemo if it is indeed a cancer. She said to call next Tuesday (they were closing Fri-Mon) if he wasnt better and then we'll try another med. I asked for copies of the xrays & bloodwork but they never sent them. The meds did not seem to help and he actually started seeming worse (hiding more in the closet, coughing, and fast breathing) so today I brought him to Emergency hospital, where they gave him oxygen and ran another Xray (since I dont have my vet's workups). The vet at the hospital said that it looks like a large Mass on the lungs (pointing to a different area than my vet did). He gave us Prendisolone, and Scratch seemed to feel better and eat more since we've been home.

I know that the situation isn't good, but I am just feeling very confused about what is actually going on with him, and what are my options, especially since I feel like the two docs told me different things.
I will send the hospital xrays to your email now. I will also send the Ultrasound results from back in January, though not sure if these might be too old to be relevant now.

I would love to know what your thoughts are from looking at these. Also, would you recommend that I keep him on the Antibiotic and Brochodiallator along with the Prendsolone?
Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much for your reply. The vet did say from the start that she does not believe it is Asthma due to his age, plus that he did not have the other symptoms of Asthma. The hospital vet said he didn't know why my vet gave him the bronchodialator, but I guess it was because she wanted to try incase it helped with the coughing (though it didn't).

I have continued the antibiotic but stopped the bronchodialator (hospital vet said that should be ok).
After starting the steroid yesterday, Scratch's breathing has actually slowed down to about 30 breaths/minute. Is this significant? and he seems to be doing much better and looks more comfortable.

I know the steroids are a temporary fix, but does that mean that there is nothing else I can do at this point? Are there any further tests that I could/should do?

I just emailed you the Xrays in a different format, if you don't mind talking a look?
Also, is there anything on there that might explain what is causing the coughing?

Thanks again for your time.

Thank you again for your advice on Scratch's situation.
I finally got the bloodwork and original Xrays from the first vet.. this will be my last ask - but would you mind taking a look at the results when you have a chance?

I would just love to get the second opinion based on the whole picture.. My goal at this point is to try to get to the bottom of what is going on, so I can make the best decision for next steps..

Your time and expertise is really truly appreciated :)