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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / September 2007Smudge has a weird lump
Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and about the same shape as a grape. It feels like a swollen gland or something like that. It's possibly near her front nipple, or it's in her "underarm", under her front leg. It moves around under her skin, so I can tell it's not a swollen skin wound. (Also, there's no blood or any sign of an obvious injury.) The lump is firm, but not hard as a rock. When I gave it a gentle squeeze, she didn't react much or cry out, so I don't think it's very painful. She did struggle and act annoyed, but that might have been just because she doesn't like being handled, or maybe it's a bit uncomfortable. She seems normal in most ways - eating, active, wanting to go in and out, alert, affectionate (but not unusually so), and grooming herself. The only thing I've noticed is that her walk is a little funny - seems like she might be trying not to press on the lump with her front leg as she walks. Anyway, **I have made a vet appointment for her**, so no yelling at me about "using this newsgroup as a vet". :) I just thought I'd ask you folks if you've ever seen something like this, and what your experiences are with this kind of thing. Thanks, Joyce > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Thanks, > Joyce Could be a subcutaneous cyst. Nothing at all to worry about. The vet will let you know. Meanwhile, purrs are on the way for Smudge and for your nerves. Jill > Could be a subcutaneous cyst. Nothing at all to worry about. The vet will > let you know. Meanwhile, purrs are on the way for Smudge and for your > nerves. Thanks! I've been trying to come up with an explanation for it that isn't scary. (Tumor? Abcess? ugh...) Of course I am still going to have her examined, but at least now I don't have to think it absolutely must be something terrible. The vet appointment isn't until Saturday. They didn't think it sounded like an emergency that had to be seen immediately, unless she starts to act like she's in a lot of pain, in which case I was to call and bring her in right away, as that might indicate an abcess. So I'll be watching her carefully in the meantime. Joyce > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > firm, but not hard as a rock. When I gave it a gentle squeeze, she > didn't react much or cry out, so I don't think it's very painful. Sounds like a lipoma (a fatty cyst). Louie (RB) used to get bunches of them. They are painless (generally), benign and nothing to worry about. Deborah slave to the current masters: Fearless Fosdick, Princess, Smokey, Cinder, Jezebel, Miss-Bitty-Kitty-Who-Isn't-Bitty-Anymore, Shane and Miss Emma. On 25 Sep, 12:17, jXwXeXrXmXoX...@sonic.net wrote: > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and > about the same shape as a grape. It feels like a swollen gland > or something like that. It's possibly near her front nipple, or > it's in her "underarm", under her front leg. Sounds like a lipoma but sending purrs that it is Lesley Slave of the Fabulous Furballs > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > ask you folks if you've ever seen something like this, and what > your experiences are with this kind of thing. Sorry, I don't think my single experience qualifies. When I lived in Pasadena, Miu (my flame-point Siamese look-alike) developed a lump under the skin on his ear, which behaved as you describe. After removing the lump, the vet showed it to me - a BB-shot from the little boy next-door engaging in target practice out their back window! (I had words with his parents, and the BB-gun was confiscated until he could use it responsibly.) I do hope Smudge's problem proves to be something equally innocuous. > Sorry, I don't think my single experience qualifies. When I > lived in Pasadena, Miu (my flame-point Siamese look-alike) [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > use it responsibly.) I do hope Smudge's problem proves to > be something equally innocuous. Equally innocuous? I wouldn't call shooting a cat with a BB gun innocuous. Poor Miu! I'm glad the boy's parents were responsible about it. I certainly hope Smudge hasn't been shot with a BB gun. There aren't many kids of the age where kids would use one, in my neighborhood. Mostly the area has young families with toddlers, or old people, or single people living in apartments. I don't see many teenagers or even older kids. Still, that doesn't mean it can't happen, but I hope not. Joyce > > Sorry, I don't think my single experience qualifies. When I > > lived in Pasadena, Miu (my flame-point Siamese look-alike) [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > innocuous. Poor Miu! I'm glad the boy's parents were responsible > about it. I guess I should have said "non-life-threatening" - I'm not sure how much penetrating power a BB-gun has, but it could certainly have been a lot worse. (Compared to what COULD have happened, a lump on the ear seemed pretty harmless.) BTW, the boy's parents didn't even know he was doing it - he was using his own bedroom window when he was supposedly in bed for the night. (Kids can get up to a lot of mischief, with even the most caring parents remaining ignorant of it.) > I guess I should have said "non-life-threatening" - I'm not > sure how much penetrating power a BB-gun has, but it could > certainly have been a lot worse. (Compared to what COULD > have happened, a lump on the ear seemed pretty harmless.) Depending on the BB-gun, it could be life threatening. While your run-of-the-mill K-Mart special is pretty low powered, you can buy BB guns with muzzle velocities faster than 1000 feet per second. That's enough to cause serious injury to a cat. >> [quoted text muted] > > Depending on the BB-gun, it could be life threatening. While your > run-of-the-mill K-Mart special is pretty low powered, you can buy BB guns > with muzzle velocities faster than 1000 feet per second. That's > enough to cause serious injury to a cat. I should point out, I don't mean this in relation to Smudge's injury. It does sound like a lipoma or some other sort of non-life-threatening condition. I was just pointing out for future reference that some BB-guns are indeed serious weapons, and assuming that a youngster shooting one at a cat wouldn't be capable of causing life-threatening injuries could be a mistake. >> Equally innocuous? I wouldn't call shooting a cat with a BB gun >> innocuous. Poor Miu! > I guess I should have said "non-life-threatening" - I'm not > sure how much penetrating power a BB-gun has, but it could > certainly have been a lot worse. (Compared to what COULD > have happened, a lump on the ear seemed pretty harmless.) But painful! Probably scared him, too. Plus, I don't like to think that this was caused by someone's carelessness (at best) or cruelty. Joyce >> After removing the lump, the vet showed it to me - a BB-shot >> from the little boy next-door engaging in target practice out >> their back window! Our vet thought Muriel's lump was an encapsulated airgun pellet at first - turned out to be cancerous, but that seems to show that airgun wounds are actually more common. >> (I had words with his parents, and the BB-gun was confiscated >> until he could use it responsibly.) I would have thought sawing the thing up in front of him and making it damn clear he would never, ever get another lethal weapon was more appropriate. > I wouldn't call shooting a cat with a BB gun innocuous. Somebody killed a child with one in Scotland a year or two ago, and serious injuries are pretty common. There is now legislation in the Scottish Parliament pipeline to ban most private ownership of them. ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557 > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Thanks, > Joyce Could just be a fatty cyst. Let's hope that is what it is. They usually are. > Could just be a fatty cyst. Let's hope that is what it is. They > usually are. Several people have suggested this. To those of you whose cats have this, what did you do about it? Did it have to be removed, or could you just leave it alone? Is it something that needs to be watched carefully, such as one does with fibroids and other cysts? Is this an age thing? A female-cat thing? Smudge is 10. While she was eating tonight, I checked it again, and again, I gave it a little squeeze. She didn't even slow down her eating one bit. So it can't be very painful! Thanks for the well-wishes and purrs, everyone. Joyce > > Could just be a fatty cyst. Let's hope that is what it is. They > > usually are. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > it a little squeeze. She didn't even slow down her eating one bit. So > it can't be very painful! Just one thing, Joyce-- DON'T squeeze it until you get a diagnosis. You still don't know what it is, so you don't know what consequence disturbing it can have. You don't know if it's an infection that can spread or something like that. So for the time being, hands off. >> While she was eating tonight, I checked it again, and again, I gave >> it a little squeeze. She didn't even slow down her eating one bit. So >> it can't be very painful! > Just one thing, Joyce-- DON'T squeeze it until you get a diagnosis. You > still don't know what it is, so you don't know what consequence disturbing > it can have. You don't know if it's an infection that can spread or > something like that. So for the time being, hands off. Good point. But rest assured, this was a very gentle squeeze. I also don't want to disturb it or cause her a lot of pain. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't bothering her a lot. Joyce > > Could just be a fatty cyst. Let's hope that is what it is. They > > usually are. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Joyce I think sometimes they reabsorb. I think usually they leave them alone unless they think they need to be tested. > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Thanks, > Joyce Purrs for a "nothing to worry about" report from the vet. Give her a skritch from me. Sam, closely supervised by Mistletoe Making the appt was the right thing best thing the vet can do is look at it. It's if something simple, no harm no foul. At most he might do a Fine Needle Aspirate, which is to take a needle and stick it into the lump and remove a few cells. Then he'll send it to a pathologist and he'll find out what it is in a few days. Purrs that it's something simple. Kristi Imp, Mischief and Mayhem I hope it's just one of those fatty cysts. I would be worried too if I found something like that on Vino. Let us know what the vet says! Purrs,  SignatureBritta Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow. Check out pictures of Vino at: http://picasaweb.google.com/badwilson > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Thanks, > Joyce > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. It's the size of a very large grape, and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Thanks, > Joyce Let's hope it's a fatty cyst, or lipoma, as others have mentioned. Stinky has had a static one for years, doesn't bother him in the least. > Anyway, **I have made a vet appointment for her**, so no yelling > at me about "using this newsgroup as a vet". :) I just thought I'd > ask you folks if you've ever seen something like this, and what > your experiences are with this kind of thing. Purring for Smudge. Please let us know what the vet says. From other people's posts, it sounds like it could be nothing to worry about, but we'll be purring anyway. SignatureMarina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. > Last night when I got home, I picked up Smudge and felt an odd > lump on her underside. <snip> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Thanks, > Joyce Lots and lots of purrs and best wishes that it is nothing to worry about, Polonca and Soncek
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