A few weeks ago, I am sitting down at the computer and up walks Cosmo. In my humble opinion, he is one of the greatest cats ever. I am petting him and of course start scratching him under the chin. Then I feel it. A huge lump. My thoughts are crap (okay honestly much stronger than that, but this is a PG blog).
So what could it be? Denial sets in and I think “It’s an infection”. I touch it and it does not bother him. Infections tend to be painful, and this lump is not. So it is probably cancer.
Cosmo is a cancer survivor. He had a benign thymoma that was remove successful 3 years ago. So what is this new cancer? The most common type of cancer in cats is lymphoma. So chances are it is lymphoma. Lymphoma responds very well to steroids. So why not just start him on steroids? If he responds well, then that is the answer.
Knowledge is important. Know what this mass is will allow me to make the correct decisions.
So the choices are Fine Needle Aspirate (FNA) or biopsy. FNA is quick and easy. It is a needle into the lesion and then off to the pathologist. Unfortunately, I have had inconclusive results with FNA so I decide on biopsy because it tends to give the definitive diagnosis. I bring him in to the clinic, sedate him and get a piece of the mass.
Then comes the wait. The results seem to take forever. I get a call from the pathologist. It is NOT lymphoma. It is a carcinoma.
Next step is surgery not steroids. This is not a common tumor in cats and there is very little literature to help guide me. Fortunately, I have a wonderful oncologist to help advise me. The next step is surgery to remove the tumor and then radiation.
It is the option that I feel is best for my family. Fortunately the surgeon does a great job and he recovers quickly. Radiation will be the next step.
I will keep you posted on his progress. A word of advice, please think about insurance for your cat when they are young. High quality medicine is not inexpensive and it is good to have a plan. Here is a link from Dr. Currigan to discuss options.
