Cats can get skin cancer, who knew?
Jan. 17th, 2005 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I've been awaiting the test results for my cat and found out that the vet who had done the tests is away for two weeks. Fortunately, she is the partner of the vet whom I usually see, so I'm actually happier that he has now taken over the case. Duncan's urinalysis came back positive for a lowgrade infection. I've got new antibiotics now that seem to be doing the trick (no more peeing in the bedroom). Unfortunately, the skin biopsies came back positive for both squamous cell skin cancer and allergic dermatitis. Apparently chronic skin lesions have a high risk of becoming cancerous (which I am finding strangely comforting, since my indoor cat rarely sees the sun). They don't know whether it has spread beyond the skin, but chances are that it hasn't since we've caught it fairly early. I am taking him in on Thursday for surgical removal of the cancerous areas. They will have to sedate him, but assure me that I can drop him off in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. After the vet sees him and discovers whether they can remove everything, then we'll see if anything more can be done for the dermatitis (and the sneezing). Oy vey!
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Date: 2005-01-17 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 09:51 pm (UTC)You deserve each other, this cat and you..."
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Date: 2005-01-18 12:06 pm (UTC)*hugs* to both Jed and Duncan.
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Date: 2005-01-18 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-19 03:37 pm (UTC)How will they know whether the cancer has metasticised? By bloodwork? Or during the surgery?
Does the vet have any idea what the allergen is? (We've had cats that were allergic to nylon, and one that had stress-induced dermatitis.)
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Date: 2005-01-20 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-21 02:38 pm (UTC)Nylon: Pickles and his sister BuzBuz started getting welts under their nylong collars. We replaced them with cotton ones and the the skin condition cleared right up. (Luckily, they aren't/weren't so sensitive that nylon in their environment affected them (e.g. in carpets, etc.), just the constantly worn collars.)
Stress: BuzBuz LOVED to go outside, but for a reason I forget, we had to keep her indoors for a few weeks. She started getting leasions on the top of her noggin. My first thought was that she was allergic to something indoors, but then I read somewhere that stress can cause dermatitis in cats. Sure enough, we let her out again, and her skin healed, and the problem never returned.