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- Feb 12, 2014
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Hi, all.
Late last year I took my 14-year-old cat Liz in for an exam of a soft growth behind her ear. The vet lanced it, and it drained pus, which the vet medicated and called a benigh cyst (she didn't do a biopsy because it was just pus). Shortly thereafter it came back and has remained the size of a pea. After doing some research, I reassured myself it was just a quirk that can happen to senior cats.
No I'm not so sure that's what we're dealing with...
A few months ago, I felt a hard nodule on the top of her skull. In denials, I guess, I chalked this up to another harmless cyst — this one just harder. It's about the size of a BB. Then, as she was laying across my lap last week, I found another BB nodule on her upper ribs. Again, no color, just a hard lump.
I posted on here the other day about her losing fur on her, and I'm taking her into the vet for them to take a look at it on Wednesday, but I started to get a sinking feeling. I understand that when cats have mange, it can often be a symptom of an underlying illness causing a lowered immune system.
Then, just a few minutes ago, I was petting her again and found a tiny black wart like growth on the skin on her hip. This one is colored where the others haven't been.
Like I said, we're going to the vet on Wednesday, and I'm sure the vet will do a scraping of her foot, and a biopsy of one or a couple of the growths, but I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some anecdotal support for optimism here. I'm hoping it's entirely possible for this to be just a weird quirk of growing old for her — not some widespread dermatological malignancy.
If it helps provide contacts, when she was six and seven years old this cat went through the wringer with and unexplained abdominal infection, which the vet treated with prednisone, Flagyl, and amoxicillin. Liz recovered promptly, only to lose 90% of her fur in what looked like a terrible burn, which we later learned was Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and incredibly rare illness that humans and animals can get ask a freak reaction to some drugs. She pulled through like a trouper. A year later, her hematocrit nosedived down into a profound anemia, which the vet labeled as an autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and Lizzy gradually bounced back from death's door again. After that though, the vet suggested we keep her on low-dose prednisolone long-term. Clearly her immune system is a wonky one. Knowing the risks of long-term steroid use and weighing them against the risk of another autoimmune emergency, that's what we went with, and we regularly check her blood levels. Surprisingly, they've always been terrific.
So I'm not sure if these lumps are indicative of a cancer that's finally going to be what hastens her end, or if maybe this is just a weird autoimmune quirk that will just be dermatologically benign.
Again, just hoping for a reason for optimism before our visit on Wednesday...
Late last year I took my 14-year-old cat Liz in for an exam of a soft growth behind her ear. The vet lanced it, and it drained pus, which the vet medicated and called a benigh cyst (she didn't do a biopsy because it was just pus). Shortly thereafter it came back and has remained the size of a pea. After doing some research, I reassured myself it was just a quirk that can happen to senior cats.
No I'm not so sure that's what we're dealing with...
A few months ago, I felt a hard nodule on the top of her skull. In denials, I guess, I chalked this up to another harmless cyst — this one just harder. It's about the size of a BB. Then, as she was laying across my lap last week, I found another BB nodule on her upper ribs. Again, no color, just a hard lump.
I posted on here the other day about her losing fur on her, and I'm taking her into the vet for them to take a look at it on Wednesday, but I started to get a sinking feeling. I understand that when cats have mange, it can often be a symptom of an underlying illness causing a lowered immune system.
Then, just a few minutes ago, I was petting her again and found a tiny black wart like growth on the skin on her hip. This one is colored where the others haven't been.
Like I said, we're going to the vet on Wednesday, and I'm sure the vet will do a scraping of her foot, and a biopsy of one or a couple of the growths, but I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some anecdotal support for optimism here. I'm hoping it's entirely possible for this to be just a weird quirk of growing old for her — not some widespread dermatological malignancy.
If it helps provide contacts, when she was six and seven years old this cat went through the wringer with and unexplained abdominal infection, which the vet treated with prednisone, Flagyl, and amoxicillin. Liz recovered promptly, only to lose 90% of her fur in what looked like a terrible burn, which we later learned was Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and incredibly rare illness that humans and animals can get ask a freak reaction to some drugs. She pulled through like a trouper. A year later, her hematocrit nosedived down into a profound anemia, which the vet labeled as an autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and Lizzy gradually bounced back from death's door again. After that though, the vet suggested we keep her on low-dose prednisolone long-term. Clearly her immune system is a wonky one. Knowing the risks of long-term steroid use and weighing them against the risk of another autoimmune emergency, that's what we went with, and we regularly check her blood levels. Surprisingly, they've always been terrific.
So I'm not sure if these lumps are indicative of a cancer that's finally going to be what hastens her end, or if maybe this is just a weird autoimmune quirk that will just be dermatologically benign.
Again, just hoping for a reason for optimism before our visit on Wednesday...
