Small lump

First, let me state that I will be contacting the vet and not just waiting for the right answer to come via the Forum, but I just wanted some additional info, if possible. I don't feel this is an immediately life-threatening situation, but I'm a bit concerned.

Sassy is almost two years old, spayed female, who just a week ago had a "good" check-up at the vets. She's an indoor cat and so is Striker our nearly 3 y.o. neutered male.

Yesterday, while petting her, I noticed a small lump (size of a dime or less) on her back, behind her right "shoulder".

Could this just be a superficial reaction to her shots last week? Would the location be somewhat right for shots?

OR

Is there some other explanation I should be more worried about? How would/could they examine or test her?

Thanks.

Hi Bill-

It is really quite common for a cat to develop a small lump- especially in that location right after an injection. Usually, this occurs within 3 days of the visit.

There is a rare incidence where a cat will develop a lump 3 months to a year from the visit. This type of reaction needs a vet quickly because it could be Vaccine Associated Sarcoma, which hits about 4 cats in 10,000 (so it is quite rare) There is a taskforce now out of Cornell University that is studying this new cancer, and will be reporting their findings in 2005.

If Sassy got the FVRCP (upper respitory vaccine), then I would just suggest that next time, you tell the vet she had this reaction and ask him to inject her rear leg and not her shoulder, it would be better for her.

As to how the vet will test it, it will be up to him. It really is a normal reaction, it is just in a very rare case, in a few cats that this goes awry.

When Isis came back from the vet for her vaccinations she had developed a small bump between her shoulder blades where they had injected her. It took a couple of weeks, but eventually it did heal over.

Thanks, Xastion and Hissy!

I feel a bit more at ease now. I'll let you know if it becomes something more.