Advice please - mouth tumours

Not one of mine!!!
One of our volunteers has been on the phone, her mum took her 3yo cat to the vets for his annual check up today, the vet checked his mouth, and he has bad gingivititis (they think they will need to remove teeth) and also a tumour at the back of his mouth. He isn't off his food though, and seems fine in himself, so slightly odd. She wanted some advice, but I was a bit stuck really, I said I would have thought it quite unusual in such a young cat, and that hopefully his age means it will be something treatable - am I right, wrong? Her mum wasn't sure whether to put him through a biopsy, but I said that in a 3 year old, it is worth doing, so she is going to try and convince her mum to book him in for next week. I also asked if they had mentioned blood tests, and they haven't - FIV and FeLV sprung to mind with the gingivitis - or could the calici virus cause lumps in mouths? He is a rescue cat who apparantly came into rescue unneutered at the age of 2ish, and has got battle scars. I am seeing her tomorrow night, so woudl appreciate any input so she can reassure her mum, or get her to ask about certain things.

Thanks

It sounds a little bit like an Eosinophillic Granuloma. http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/CLERK/Starnes/

Definitely do the biopsy. I would think they could do it while doing the dental, so the cat would be anesthetized anyway. Doing the biopsy will give the kitty's mom more information to figure out what to do next as well as determine if the lump is cancer or some other sort of inflammation or benign tumor. It's possible the tumor was caught early, since it was found during an exam rather than because the cat stopped eating. This site is rather technical, but it has a list of both cat and dog oral tumor types and information about them arranged in a nice chart:

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00088.htm
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...&S=0&C=0&A=130
http://www.vetcentric.com/reference/...fm?ARTICLE=109

Depending on the type, stage, and location of the tumor, it may be treatable with radiation, chemo or surgery:

http://www.veterinarycancer.com/oraltumor.html

This site has lots of good links and information about cancer in cats, including oral cancer:
http://www.zzcat.com/resources/overview.htm#oral

Thanks for those links - I have sent this page to my friend, and hopefully there will be a good outcome for the little one (who isn't actually a little cat!!)

Got a text from my friend earlier saying Oscar is fine, no tumours. So, he has 4 teeth less, but at least no cancer!!