Mammary Tumor Question...

New here.. 2 of my girls are 12 1/2 yrs old. They were both spayed early, before 6 months? (Soon as the vet said they were old enough) They are sisters, bobtails, one a polydactyl. Found them when they were infants, bottlefed. They turned into big cats; 14-16 lbs. Healthy Until recently when Sandy, the polydactyl, just had surgery for mammary tumors. How common is this in cats spayed early? I thought one of the benefits of spaying was eliminate chance of female cancers? My vet seems confused also and said has never seen it in spayed kitties.

Here is a 2005 paper about the influence of spaying age on mammary tumors in cats. In this study, spaying before 6 months was seen to decrease the incidence of mammary tumors by 91% but didn't completely eliminate the chance of tumors.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2005.tb02727.x

thank you. I thought it wasn't common.. Hopefully the surgery is enough, and she has more time with me and her sister Pammy. She had no symptoms at all other than the lump I felt when I picked her up .

I've seen quite a few threads about mammary tumors on this site. I am hoping some of the members who have had to deal with this will see your post over the coming hours/days and offer their input.

Hoping for a wonderful outcome with the surgery and her recovery!!

Thank you. She has one more week then can get the cone off, and out of the kennel. Her sister misses her.

Poor baby! The week will probably go faster for her than it will for you!!

true.. It has been a long first week. One more to go..I hate for her to be in a kennel, but she cant be jumping. Being tailless, she hops anyway and is a bit clumsy. The cone was another have to.. tried without it, but after 3 days with no sleep, and her licking(trying) her incision..I had to go back to the vet for a cone fitting then a bigger kennel. Her sister is in a smaller kennel beside her, as she wouldn't leave her alone. The vet called today and said the tumor was malignant. Hopefully the surgery she had will be enough & it wont come back.

Since she has another week to go, would it be worth it for you to find an inflatable collar - they are a little more comfortable than those cones. Most pet stores sell them.

I had a female years ago who got mammary tumors twice. The two occurances were many years apart. They took out the entire row on the one side (maybe age 10), then the entire other row when it came back on the other side (age 15?). She lived to 19 years old.

She was spayed sort of late in life (age 3?), but the mammary tumors isn't what got her in the end.

Thanks for the info. age 19!! .. awwww... She is almost 13, so hoping this helps her have some good years left, I would rather her go "from old age" than cancer. Vet said took out whole strip with her also, I felt the one lump at the top, then a smaller one at bottom.. doc said was a few in between and removed "whole strip" so I am hoping that "fixes" things for now. I also hope her sister stays healthy.