My Cat Had Gastrointestinal Lymphoma: Saying Goodbye to Adah

On June 6, 2026, I lost my cat Adah. I'm still in shock, still crying on and off, and honestly still reaching for her out of habit. She was 8 years old and had been by my side for 7 of them. Writing this is hard, but I know it's something I need to do, because if you're searching for information about feline gastrointestinal lymphoma or trying to figure out what comes next after losing your cat, I want you to know you're not alone. I've been right where you are.

Adah wasn't just a cat to me; she was like a daughter. She was the one who helped me survive losing my Maltese dog back in February 2019. I got her at the end of March that same year. She was actually my first cat ever. And somehow, without me even realizing it, she became the center of my world. I had no idea that choosing her would be one of the best decisions of my life or that letting her go would be one of the hardest.

⚡ Key Takeaways

• 🐱 Feline GI lymphoma is the most common cancer in cats and can mimic IBD so closely that even experienced vets can miss it without a biopsy.
• 💉 A steroid shot can provide temporary relief, but when it wears off, the decline can be rapid and severe.
• ⚖️ Signs it may be time to say goodbye include complete inability to eat, extreme lethargy, loss of basic functions, and rapid weight loss.
• 💛 You may not be able to afford every available test, and that's okay. Sometimes your cat's condition makes the most loving decision clear without them.
• 💙 Grief after losing a cat is real and valid. There's no timeline, and it's okay to take as long as you need to heal.

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How Adah Found Her Way Into My Heart

I mentioned losing my Maltese dog in early 2019. At the time, I didn't think a cat could fill that hole. I was wrong. I got Adah at the end of March 2019, and within days, I just fell in love. She had this personality that was a mix of totally independent and completely devoted at the same time. She'd do her own thing, wander around the house on her terms, but she was always nearby. My furry little shadow, even when she pretended she didn't care.

This was AI-edited, not generated; this is actually Adah!

We built a tight bond over those 7 years. She wasn't an overly affectionate cat, but she had her ways. She'd sometimes climb up onto my lap out of nowhere or curl up on me in bed when she felt like it. Not every day, not even often, but enough that when she did, it meant something. If I was having a rough day with my anxiety, she somehow knew to just be close. I don't fully understand the connection people have with cats until they actually have one, and Adah taught me that.

When I First Noticed Something Was Wrong

Adah had always been a picky eater, but late last year and into early 2026, it got to a new level. She'd eat something one day and act like I'd insulted her by offering it the next. Sometimes I could go back to that same food a few weeks later and she'd eat it again. Other times, never again. It was frustrating and confusing, but it didn't feel alarming at first because honestly, that was just Adah being Adah, just turned up a notch.

What started standing out more was the vomiting and the diarrhea. Those symptoms, combined with her pickiness, had me doing research more and more. She actually didn't lose much weight until May. She'd always been around 10 pounds, so the drop to 9.4 lbs wasn't dramatic on paper. But knowing how fast things changed after that, I look back on those numbers differently now.

The IBD Diagnosis: When the Vet Got It Wrong

After bloodwork, her vet found elevated eosinophils (white blood cells that indicate inflammation). Combined with her symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, and extreme food pickiness, he deduced that she had IBD, inflammatory bowel disease. I actually wrote a whole article about navigating that diagnosis with her, because I was deep in research mode trying to understand what we were dealing with. I believed it. I thought we had a plan. I just never got the chance to publish it, and now it doesn't even matter because things moved so quickly.

The thing about IBD in cats is that it looks almost identical to small-cell gastrointestinal lymphoma. According to VCA Animal Hospitals, the symptoms overlap so significantly that a biopsy is often the only way to confirm which one you're actually dealing with. Most vets start with IBD treatment first, and that's exactly what happened with Adah. But as we'd eventually find out, it wasn't IBD at all.

The Steroid Shot and What Happened After

Her vet started her on a steroid shot, which he said would last about 2 to 3 weeks. And for a while, it seemed to be doing something. She was eating better and seemed a little more herself, and I let myself breathe. But when that shot wore off, everything crashed at once. She stopped eating. I had to syringe feed her just to get anything into her, and even that was a battle. That period of syringe feeding only lasted a few days as we moved her to a transdermal prednisolone cream.

The transdermal brought her appetite back. Within a few days, she was eating on her own again, which felt like progress. But the rest of her just kept declining. Her diarrhea came back. She wasn't gaining weight. She wasn't better, even though she was eating. The food was going in, but her body wasn't doing anything useful with it. That's when I started getting that feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was something more than IBD.

The Last Two Days

On Friday, June 5th, Adah spent most of the day downstairs. She was still eating on her own that day, which I'm so grateful for now. I didn't know it was the last day she'd eat. She was quiet and slow, but she was still there in a way that felt like her. I was watching her closely but holding onto the fact that she was still eating and venturing out more.

Late Friday night and early Saturday morning were different. She wasn't eating. She wasn't moving much at all. She was practically comatose, just lying there breathing. She had a couple of litter box accidents, which was completely out of character for her because no matter how bad she'd felt through all of this, she had always, always used her litter box. That's how I knew something was different. That's how I knew something had shifted overnight in a way it wasn't coming back from. As soon as my husband got home from work (luckily, it was just a half day), we got in the car.

What We Learned at the Urgent Care Vet

We drove about 40 minutes to a pet urgent care vet because our regular vet wasn't available and we couldn't wait. After examining Adah and reviewing everything, the vet told us it was likely gastrointestinal lymphoma. Not IBD. Lymphoma. He laid out a plan that would start with a long list of tests, all of which together would run over $1,500. And honestly, we didn't have it. That kind of financial wall in that kind of moment is its own special kind of painful.

But even setting the money aside, there was a part of me that already knew. Everything the vet was saying added up with what I'd been quietly researching and dreading in the back of my mind. The IBD that never really responded the way IBD should have. The rapid weight loss that started after the steroid wore off. The fact that her body just couldn't process nutrition no matter what we gave her. 

According to Kingsdale Animal Hospital, malnutrition and dehydration in late-stage GI lymphoma happen because the disease destroys the intestine's ability to absorb nutrients properly, regardless of how much the cat eats. That was Adah. Her body was done.

Signs That Your Cat May Be at End Stage

Looking back, there were clear signs we were running out of time. If you're watching your cat go through something similar, here's what I saw in Adah's final days:

• Eating on their own one day, completely refusing the next
• Rapid weight loss after a period of stability
• Body unable to utilize nutrition despite eating
• Extreme, sudden lethargy and inability to move around normally
• Loss of bladder or bowel control (for Adah, this only happened at the very end)
• Visible weakness, going limp when held

Adah got to see snow three times in her lifetime!

The HHHHHMM quality-of-life scale is a tool vets use to assess a cat's well-being when end-of-life decisions are approaching. A score below 35 consistently over several days typically signals that it may be time. I didn't need a chart to tell me what I could see with my own eyes on Saturday morning, but it can be a helpful anchor when your emotions are pulling in every direction.

Saying Goodbye at the Vet

We didn't do this at home. We were already at the urgent care vet, and we made the decision right there. I went back and forth for a little while, asking myself the questions every pet owner asks in that moment. Was I being selfish for wanting it to stop? Was I giving up? But the vet was kind and steady, and the picture was clear. Continuing wasn't going to give Adah more life. It was only going to give her more suffering.

The vet and the staff were incredibly gentle. They let us be right there with her the whole time. We stood where she could see us. I talked to her. I held her. It was still the hardest thing I've ever done in a vet's office, but there was something about being right in her eyesight, making sure the last thing she saw was the people who loved her, that I'll always be thankful for. She wasn't alone. She was seen.

What Grief Looks Like When You Lose a Cat

I won't sugarcoat it: the grief hit like a wall. I couldn't eat (still barely eating). I cried in a way I haven't cried in a long time, the kind that physically hurts. I already miss seeing that adorable, beautiful face. I keep expecting to see her in one of her usual spots. The house just feels wrong without her in it.

Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine has a great resource on grieving the loss of your cat that reminded me grief doesn't follow a straight path. You might feel denial, anger, deep sadness, and relief all mixed together. All of it is normal. There's no timeline, and there shouldn't be one.

I'm also watching my younger cat Micah closely. He's been a little off since Adah passed, and that's been its own kind of hard. Cats do grieve, and seeing him look for her makes me feel the loss all over again. But it also makes me appreciate how much time and health he still has ahead of him. I want to be present for that.

Practical Ways to Cope With Losing a Cat

If you're in the thick of grief right now, I want to share what's helped me:

• Let yourself cry and feel it rather than pushing it away
• Talk to someone who gets it, whether that's a friend, a partner, or an online pet-loss community
• Write about your cat if you can. I'm doing that right now, and it helps.
• Don't rush to remove their things. Take your time.
• Check in with your other pets. They may be grieving too.
• Seek professional support if your daily functioning is significantly impacted

HelpGuide's piece on coping with pet loss makes the important point that the bond between a person and their pet is real and deep, and the grief that follows is just as legitimate as any other. Don't let anyone minimize what you're going through.

Adah, You Deserved So Much More

The title of this article is also the title of the notes I wrote when I was trying to process everything. She deserved more time. She deserved to live out the rest of her years the way cats are supposed to: comfortable, cared for, and doing things on her own terms. 

Gastrointestinal lymphoma took that from her and from me. But what she gave me in 7 years was more than I ever expected when I brought home my very first cat in 2019. She carried me through grief once before. I'm going to have to figure out how to carry myself through losing her.

If you're going through something similar right now with your cat, I'm so sorry. It's one of the hardest things. Take the time you need to grieve, be kind to yourself, and know that choosing to end their suffering when the time comes isn't a failure. It's one of the most loving things you can do.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the signs of end-stage gastrointestinal lymphoma in cats?

End-stage GI lymphoma in cats typically includes severe weight loss, complete refusal to eat, extreme lethargy, difficulty moving, and loss of bladder or bowel control. The body can no longer absorb nutrition properly, so malnutrition and dehydration set in quickly even if the cat has been eating. Cats often become limp or barely responsive. These signs can appear rapidly (sometimes within days of a noticeable decline). If you're seeing these signs, it's time to have an honest conversation with your vet about quality of life and end-of-life options.

How do I know when it's time to euthanize my cat with lymphoma?

There's no single answer, but most vets use a quality-of-life scale to guide the decision. If your cat has more bad days than good, can't eat, won't engage, is in visible distress, or has lost basic bodily functions, it's often time. The HHHHHMM scale is a helpful tool. A total score below 35 consistently suggests poor quality of life. Trust your gut too. You know your cat better than anyone, and sometimes that knowledge is the most important thing in the room.

Can IBD in cats turn into lymphoma?

IBD and small cell gastrointestinal lymphoma are closely related conditions that look nearly identical in symptoms and even in bloodwork. Some research suggests IBD may increase a cat's risk of developing lymphoma over time, and in many cases the two conditions are only distinguishable through a biopsy. If your cat has been diagnosed with IBD but isn't responding to treatment as expected, it's worth asking your vet about the possibility of lymphoma. A correct diagnosis can change the entire treatment approach.

How long does grief last after losing a cat?

There's no set timeline. Research suggests the most intense grief often peaks in the first two months, but underlying sadness can last six months to a year or longer, especially when the bond was deep. HelpGuide notes that grief can't be rushed, and that's okay. If your grief is significantly affecting your ability to sleep, eat, or function day to day for an extended period, reaching out to a mental health professional who understands pet loss can make a real difference.

R.I.P. Baby Girl! We love you with all our hearts. We miss you dearly. You'll never, ever be forgotten!

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