Lump Near Nipple

[The Practical Cat]

So.. I will call the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime I need help not freaking out.

I was petting my kitty Pandora and I noticed a pea-sized lump near one of her nipples. The internet tells me this could be mammary cancer so (being the anxious person that I am) I am losing it a little. Pandora is 11 years old so she is in the age range where this could be more common. Are there other common things this could be?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Is she spayed?

 

[The Practical Cat]

Yes, she is.

 

[talkingpeanut]

That's good, and makes her chances of mammary cancer much lower. Please let us know what the vet says!

Hopefully it's something like a cyst.

 

[The Practical Cat]

That is good to know, thanks. She was spayed a bit late, at 2 years when I adopted her. I hope it's something benign like a cyst as well.

 

[The Practical Cat]

Got to take another look when she rolled over for belly pet (<3) , it moves around easily, so I'm hoping that is a good sign?

 

[The Practical Cat]

Not great news for Pandora . The vet told me 80-90% of breast lumps in cats are malignant, which is staggeringly high. We did a needle aspiration but now I have to wait an agonizing several days for test results.

What's weird is I think the lump may be a little bigger than yesterday. It's possible I'm imagining this, or maybe it is actually a bit swollen from the needle aspiration, or maybe it has grown. How fast does mammary cancer grow in cats? I can't imagine the vet would have me wait several days for results if it could grow that quickly, so is this maybe an indication it could be something else? (I know, I may be grasping at straws here ).

 

[Cataria]

I'm so sorry -- I've been down the mammary cancer road many times. Easier said than done, but try not to panic until you have the actual test results as to whether or not is it malignant. If it is cancer, I (and many others here) can give you some ideas on what to expect, but for now, try not to obsess. Hopefully they will get you the results back really soon and that it will turn out to be a lipoma or cyst or something!

I'm not a vet, mind you, but from personal experience, I don't think that the lump would have gotten visibly bigger this quickly, so I would lean toward it being swelling from the needle.

 

[The Practical Cat]

Thanks, Cataria. I think it was swelling from the needle as well as the angle the light hit it as I looked again later and it didn't seem quite as large. I'm really trying not to panic but it's a bit too late for that. I'll try to hang in there for now though and hope that the test results come back with good news.

 

[arouetta]

I'm not a vet, far from it, but in my personal experience the fact that it does move around is good. Cancer is ugly feeling, it feels like a rock stuck inside the skin. It's hard and doesn't move.

Try to breathe. What I've read about mammary cancer is that while it tends to grow fast, a few days is not what it meant by fast. More like weeks to months. And while I don't want you to think it's a walk in the park, my cat had confirmed malignant mammary cancer and lived for years after surgical removal. Yeah, it came back twice, but we had those years.

 

[The Practical Cat]

Thanks Arouetta. I have anxiety, myself, so dealing with things like this hits me particularly hard. I have been doing my best not to obsess. Hopefully as you said since it's movable that is a good sign. Do you mind my asking how much surgical removal cost? I understand that's going to vary from vet to vet as well as the extend of surgery but a ballpark would be helpful, I'm not sure if I can afford even that if it's in the thousands of dollars . I will do as much as I can for my kitty though, she's like my little baby.

Also, I'm glad to hear that removal brought that much more time for your cat. Did she have symptoms in that time or was she basically in remission until the new growths appeared?

 

[arouetta]

It was 2009 when the first lump was found during a checkup. The vet recommended surgical removal with a biopsy after, but she told me that cats aren't little dogs and that cats don't respond to chemo for mammary cancer like dogs do, so all that was done was surgical removal. She also told me it always comes back. Surgery was roughly $500, but that figure also included the biopsy, along with the standard post surgical check and medications. I was told to check monthly for more tumors, basically feeling her belly for lumps by squishing all her mammary glands with my hands while she was standing.

By 2013 I was pretty lax about the monthly lump checks. But I still did them occasionally and I found two lumps, side by side. One was ulcerated. Back to the vet, roughly another $500 for surgery, this time 3 mammary glands were removed in addition to the two tumors. We skipped the biopsy this time based on medical history, though from the tumors' appearance the vet was certain it was cancer again. She was really surprised it took 4 years to come back. Because I had a relationship with the vet, when I was declined for Care Credit they made a payment arrangement with me, I paid $50 for 10 months following surgery. Definitely ask about Care Credit and if you can make payment arrangements.

Last year another lump was found. Due to placement it could have been the scar from last time, a cancer tumor on whatever breast tissue was left in the area, or something way out of the ballpark like a calcium deposit. It was tiny enough that the new vet said a needle biopsy could miss it, so we didn't do that. I had not looked at the oldest picture of her in some time, and I had lost track of her age and thought she was 17 last year (turns out she was 19). Due to age I decided on not treating it this time, the surgical risks were too high and the extension to her life was too low, and I didn't want her to feel fear over going to the vet and then dying on the table, her last moments fear, nor did I want her to die while feeling post-surgical pain. Over the last year I checked the lump regularly, it did increase in size and a second lump developed next to it. Because of the increase in size and a companion lump forming, and how they physically felt when manipulated, and medical history, the new vet was also certain that it was definitely the cancer coming back.

End note, the vet can't be sure but she didn't think it was the cancer that caused her death, since the tumors stayed pretty small. It was likely something unrelated.

End end note, from what I read Shadow's case was somewhat unusual due to the fact that her tumors were slow growing, but somewhat unusual doesn't mean it can't happen to some other cat. Research into human breast cancer has found that watchful waiting is probably better than aggressive treatment right off the bat because a fair number of cases are definitely malignant but slow enough growing that something else will kill the woman first. DO NOT take this to mean that you shouldn't do surgery right away, you really should, but do take it to mean that your cat will not automatically have the worst case scenarios you will read about when researching mammary cancer in cats.

 

[zygote]

My cat also has mammary cancer. I'm not going to lie, it's been pretty stressful. I also tend towards anxiety and, as you've read, it can spread pretty fast and is basically impossible to "cure". She is spayed, but she was a stray so she was spayed late. And had at least one litter of kittens first.

We've been going to a major teaching veterinary hospital and it has indeed been pretty expensive, in the thousands of dollars. She is feisty enough we opted for a full removal of all the mammary glands. They did two surgeries, one on each side, and she recovered really well. Biopsy showed it was low grade. So it was malignant, but slower growing than some of the horror stories you read about. As you said, the treatment and cost will likely vary vet to vet. We went the aggressive route because she seemed able to handle it and we had the savings to pay for it, but there are certainly other approaches like the one arouetta took that can be successful.

We also opted for chemo follow up because the vets said the chemo levels are different in animals than in humans. They go for lower doses that will slow growth to increase comfort, instead of blasting with chemo in an attempt to cure. It theoretically has fewer side effects, but even with a low dose, she definitely didn't feel great. I don't regret doing the five rounds that we did, but we decided not to do the sixth and last one. The chemo would definitely affect her appetite, and mild chronic kidney issues were getting worse.

The surgery to remove the mammary gland with the lump was about a year ago, and much to my dismay, I feel a tiny lump already. It's smaller than a pea, but it is hard and attached to her muscle wall. (She doesn't have any more mammary glands for it to grow in.) We have a vet appointment in a few weeks to get it looked at and we'll go from there. However, it's much smaller than the lump we originally took out, and the cancer hadn't spread to her lymph nodes or other organs yet. So I have hope that it's still early and we have more time.

It's a very personal decision how to treat it, if it is indeed malignant. You have to consider how well your cat will handle treatment, how much you are willing/able to spend, and how much you are able to give in terms of time and energy to take care of her. It can be difficult wanting to treat your cat, but not being able to explain why she's spending so much time at the vet or why she has to take medicine at home. It's a balancing act, with her overall quality of life being weighed at every stage. Though we have done a lot of treatment, we have backed off on some things here and there out of concern for her comfort.

I have my fingers crossed for you that it's not cancer. But if it is, I'll be sending you good thoughts for the strength to face it.

 

[The Practical Cat]

Thank you both for your responses. I'm still waiting on the test results, I wish they could tell me faster what was going on! In the meanwhile it's helpful to hear some stories of how things may go and what options are available.

I do actually have Care Credit already, I applied back when Pandora had a cyst in her tooth and required an expensive removal. I used it this last time on the needle aspiration, as well. The vet I'm going to seems to be on the high end cost-wise, they were recommended by a friend however because my former vet was really poor quality, so at least I can trust they're trying to give my cat the best care. I think if it does come back that it is malignant or undetermined the vet will recommend me to an oncologist from there as she said she doesn't have a huge amount of experience with this in cats. Did you both see a regular vet for your cats' treatment, or did you go to a veterinary oncologist? (Or other specialist?)

 

[zygote]

We went to a veterinary oncologist. Our vet referred us. Like your vet, he said he didn't have the tools to handle the case himself. He's a great vet for preventative care and basic problems, but he's a one-man neighborhood practice. He just doesn't have the resources for something like this.

I feel like we've gotten excellent care from the oncologist, but they definitely are more expensive and sometimes push for treatments and tests. If you go with an oncologist, it's okay to ask questions and change the plan for your specific situation. Like, why do they want to run a particular $$$ test? What might it show? How would the results affect treatment? Our vet team likes to get all the data they can, so they tend to want a lot of tests. But we have to consider whether it's worth putting her through it, especially if it involves anesthesia (hard on her weak kidneys), and whether it will be worth the cost. We did all the tests at the beginning to see what we were working with, but have declined some check in tests along the way when they wouldn't tell us much more than a physical exam or wouldn't change the treatment plan.

In general, I would care more about the quality of the vet and their comfort treating mammary cancer than the label of a general vet or an oncologist. It sounds like your vet doesn't think she can treat it. I would trust her opinion. Hopefully she will have a specific person in mind to refer you to that she trusts will do a good job.

 

[arouetta]

I stuck with my usual vet for both surgeries. Never saw an oncologist.

zygote is right, vets can certainly push a lot of diagnostic and treatment stuff that when you have a chance to think you realize there never was a good reason listed for half the stuff. I can understand why a specialist would push for cutting edge expensive stuff, and I have experienced it with regular vets who brag about having things like ultrasound and laser surgical tools right there in the office. They have to pay for the expensive toys somehow.

 

[Cataria]

Sure, I can tell you about my experiences. Sweetie was diagnosed with mammary cancer at about 7 and a half; growing up my parents were of the opinion that indoor cats never needed to be spayed, so neither Sweetie or Ember were spayed until I moved out and took them with me. It was during the spay surgery that my vet discovered the tumor, did the biopsy, and confirmed it was cancer. However, the vet did not tell me there were any treatment options or that there was anything I should be doing, so after the tumor was removed, we did nothing.

About six months later, another tumor started to visibly form on her chest. By this point I had moved to another state, so I took her to the vet there and they immediately sent me to a nearby veterinary oncologist for treatment (never knew they existed!). They recommended doing a bilateral mastectomy, which is removing all of the mammary tissue (both mammary chains). They remove all the tissue over the course of two separate surgeries. The goal is that since the mammary tissue is the origin of all the bad cells, if you remove all the mammary tissue, then no more cancer cells could be formed. If the cancer didn't spread elsewhere, it gives them a much better chance. It's a pretty major surgery and uncomfortable to the cat because it involves stretching the skin, but with proper pain medicine all the cats I've had have handled it really well. I'd personally recommend doing it if there's no identifiable signs of metastasis yet, or at the very least, doing it on the mammary chain where the cancer came from originally. If the cancer has metastasized it's not as helpful, but still worth considering. The vet would be able to give you their recommendation there.

After the two surgeries, we followed up with I think five rounds of chemotherapy. I don't remember which drug, but it was the one they typically use for treating cats. Just to note, as part of the whole chemotherapy process, they also do blood tests to make sure that the chemotherapy is not too strong for the cat, and x-rays to see if there are any tumors developing and if any existing tumors are shrinking. So if you end up down a chemotherapy road, you can expect that to be happening regularly.

Unfortunately, several months into Sweetie's treatment (5 or 6 months in, I think, and around the third round of chemo), I found a lump on Ember. I took her in, they confirmed it was mammary cancer. At this point, between Sweetie and my own personal health issues, I was really running out of money. My regular, non-oncologist vet said that they had experience performing mastectomy surgeries and said they'd be willing to give it a try on Ember, which would save me some money, so I gave them the go-ahead. Unfortunately, the surgery didn't go well. My understanding is that they did not get all of the cancerous tissue out during the first surgery and that were cancer cells all along where the incision was healing, and that would cause the cancer to spread faster. We ultimately decided that it was better to focus my finances on Sweetie since she was already undergoing treatment and had a better prognosis, and we discontinued further treatment on Ember.

After Sweetie's chemo was finished she was cancer-free as far as they could see. Unfortunately, I lost my job shortly after that and wasn't able to take her back anymore for any more check-ups; ended up moving back home. I don't fully remember the timeline, but I lost Ember first, it was maybe about 6-8 months from diagnosis to when I lost her, but that was with very minimal treatment, and Ember was not diagnosed nearly as early in the process because I couldn't see the lump forming under her long hair (Sweetie was a shorthair, Ember was a longhair). For Sweetie, it was about two years from the initial diagnosis during her spay surgery to when I finally had to put her down. If a) we had started treatment from the moment her cancer was found or b) I had continued check-ups after her rounds of chemotherapy had completed, I may have had even longer than that.

A few years later, Nenya. Nenya, unfortunately, was not the typical mammary cancer case at all. I first discovered a tiny, tiny lump on her chest when she was around 3.5 years old that looked and felt like Ember and Sweetie's mammary tumors, but when I showed the vet they told me it was probably just fatty tissue and it was too tiny to aspirate with a needle. By the next year I realized it grew and this time, they did the biopsy. Yep, mammary cancer. Nenya was already a non-typical case because she was so young when she developed it.

The vet then did the surgery to remove the tumor. In general, the smaller the tumor, the better prognosis you have, and Nenya's tumor was super, super tiny. Unfortunately, the cancer had already metastasized to her lympathic system, which was spreading cancer cells throughout her body.

I took Nenya to a veterinary oncologist (not the same one as where I took Sweetie, because different state). Because of the metastasis, they recommended that we skip the surgery and go straight to chemotherapy to try to kill off of the cells that migrated to places that could interfere with important bodily functions. However, because I wanted her to have the best chance I could possibly give her, we arranged to have the bilateral mastectomy done in between chemo treatments -- at the point where the cancer has already spread the mastectomy is less useful, but I figured it would at least decrease the total number of potential cancer cells we were dealing with.

The first month or so after the surgeries and set of chemo things seemed to be okay, but then during one of her check-ups the oncologist noticed a tumor forming in her lungs. Because it formed so quickly, it was strong evidence that her cancer did not respond to that particular chemo drug at all, so we decided to switch it up and try chemo pills (Palladia). First month seemed okay but the second month, the x-ray showed that the Palladia was not working either -- lung tumor got a little bigger and she was developing a pleural effusion -- fluids in her lung cavity. She wasn't really bothered by the fluids yet, but the oncologist removed the fluid and injected a different chemo drug in that part of the chest cavity to try to buy more time -- if the fluid in her chest cavity was slow to fill up and we just drained it every month or so, then she'd still have a few months left.

A little more than a month later, Nenya started showing signs of some breathing issues, so I took her to her regular vet to get their opinion/potentially drain the fluids. They did an x-ray, confirmed it was fluids, and recommended that we drain the fluids because she would go back to being asymptomatic and still have a perfectly fine quality of life. Unfortunately, she got worse -- the vet did another x-ray and now that the fluids were removed, they could see that the tumors in the lungs grew so much that they were impacting her breathing, and there was nothing left to do.

---

I think Sweetie is most like your typical mammary cancer case. She got two years and may have gotten even longer if I was able to continue regular check-ups. Ember's situation was crappy, but her cancer was probably similar to Sweetie's.

I would consider Nenya's case extremely atypical considering she developed it very young and it was completely unresponsive to any treatment we tried (even though I discovered it very early on). However, you may still find her treatment description useful because we were pretty much trying everything possible to save her, it just wasn't working.

 

[Zandalee]

So.. I will call the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime I need help not freaking out.

I was petting my kitty Pandora and I noticed a pea-sized lump near one of her nipples. The internet tells me this could be mammary cancer so (being the anxious person that I am) I am losing it a little. Pandora is 11 years old so she is in the age range where this could be more common. Are there other common things this could be?

So.. I will call the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime I need help not freaking out.

I was petting my kitty Pandora and I noticed a pea-sized lump near one of her nipples. The internet tells me this could be mammary cancer so (being the anxious person that I am) I am losing it a little. Pandora is 11 years old so she is in the age range where this could be more common. Are there other common things this could be?

My cat Neferteri had the same thing in the same place and by the time I noticed it, it was the size of a walnut. I started adding a small dollop of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to her water and within a couple of weeks I could tell it was getting smaller. Within 2 months it had shrunk to the size of a small pea. This was a couple of years ago and she still has a small growth that looks like a mole. Make sure you use vinegar with the mother or it will do nothing. Shake it every time before using. It is good for you and your pets.

 

[AbbysMom]

Just a reminder to check with your vet before trying any at home treatment on your cat. What works for one could be deadly for another.

 

[arouetta]

According to PetMD apple cider vinegar has no health benefits and some risks, such as burning the mucus membranes, causing ulcers, and a laxative effect. And if the cat has any kidney problems, known or unknown, that's when it really wreaks havoc.