mast cell tumors

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Betsy - 23 Feb 2005 04:26 GMT

I had Melon to the vet today for her hair loss, and she apparently has
psychogenic alopecia. While there I thought to mention to the vet what I
thought was a wart. She gets these wart-like things, as does her daughter
Mopsy.

Well, he scared me to death, saying it probably wasn't a wart as such a
virus isn't known to affect cats, and it probably was a mast cell, but of
course the only way to know was to take it off & biopsy.

Since I am absolutely stretched with sick animals, he suggested leaving it
alone. I OK'd a depo shot for Melon, and he said it would probably shrink
the "tumor".

But after reading about them on the web I'm even more scared. Melon appears
to have only the one right now. Mopsy has one of about the same size and it
has 2 bumps, not one, and gets bright red when manipulated. Melon's is on
her throat (bib). Mopsy's is on her lower back.

Mopsy also appears to have 2 other rather flat bumps right now. They are on
her back. She got too mad at me so I couldn't check her tummy :(

So what should I do? Does anybody have any experience with this? Are they
usually life threatening, or can a cat live with them? Do they usually
metastasize or threaten internal organs?

Please share your experiences with me!

Reply to this Message

Steph - 23 Feb 2005 15:41 GMT

Personally, I'd suggest taking it off or doing a fine needle aspiration if
possible. That's the only way to tell what it is. Animal "bumps" can be
anywhere from harmless and safe to scary and life threatening. Even bumps
that look harmless have come back from the histopathologist as cancer and
vice versa. I don't know what they look like or anything but if possible
you can do them under a local with is usually a lot cheaper as well. You
can also decline to send it away. Then at least its off of the body but the
down side is that you won't know what it is.

Reply to this Message

Spot - 24 Feb 2005 00:10 GMT

Get this taken care of NOW, I can't stress enough the importance of being
aggressive with this. Mast cell caught early can be successfully treated.
If left go it spreads internally and kills the dog. Barney had mast cell
the last 4 years. The first two were caught early on as small lumps under
the skin and removed. One was no bigger than the size of a pea the other
went from a grape size to that of a golf ball in less than a weeks time. I
treated him daily with Bendryl and cimetadine for the last 3 years as a
preventative and to help with the stomach problems these can cause.
Eventually he developed one inside of the mouth where surgery was not an
option and at age 12 it was more important to keep him comfortable than to
put him through radiation. Even though we treated the last tumor with
prednisone along with the other medications it spread quickly internally and
he passed away 5 months later.

Good luck
Celeste

> I had Melon to the vet today for her hair loss, and she apparently has
> psychogenic alopecia. While there I thought to mention to the vet what I
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
>
> Please share your experiences with me!

Reply to this Message

Becky - 24 Feb 2005 00:36 GMT

Mast cell tumors are not as horrible in cats as they are in dogs. My
cat had two removed and since she had other health issues I took her to
a veterinary oncologist. He said that veterinary dermatologists
consider them benign. My vet did say she would want to remove anything
my cat gets because of her history of mast cell tumors. Mast cell
tumors are not very common in cats though. If both your cats have lumps
it may be something different. This same cat had a little lump on her
mouth - it looked a lot like kitty acne to me but I took her to the vet
to have it checked. It was just a little infection and eventually
crusted over and went away.

I would definately want them removed.

Reply to this Message