Hello everyone. I'm desperate for help as I have no where else to turn to.
I have a roughly 14 or 15 year old orange persian (I think) cat. He is/was otherwise healthy and goes out into our backyard often, plays and frolicks, etc.
About 3-4 weeks ago he developed a growth on his neck, right under his jaw. It started small over night and grew bigger and bigger, to maximum size in only a few days. It is still there and big to the point that his lower lip is being stretched downward a bit because it is stretching his skin. Because of this he is not eating or drinking as much and is getting noticeably thinner and I fear he may have to be put down in the coming weeks.
Now a few things
1. we took him to the vet immediately after the growth happened. They were clueless and prescribed antibiotics for a week in the case that it's an abscess. We gave him the anti-biotics for a week but it only got worse
2. We took him to the vet again after a week or week and a half after the first visit. This time the doctor attempted to 'aspirate' it by sticking a needle in but said it's way too hard and feels almost like a bone growth which I'm sure it's not. He says it may be cancer or something else. Basically clueless, this time he gave the cat an injection that he said was a 3 week long steroid/cortisone thing of some sort that could possibly reduce the swelling.
This hasn't done anything and it is now about 2 weeks after that last visit.
3. The growth/lump is very hard and I'm pretty sure it is mobile in that it moves from day to day slightly in different positions either towards the front near the chin or from side to side underneath his jaw.
4. Important part: About 5-6 months ago this same cat had an almost IDENTICAL growth/lump on the same exact place under his jaw/neck which lasted for about a week. We took him to the vet immediately, they were clueless at that time as well and sent him home I think maybe with anti-biotics I can't remember. The lump was initially hard also back then, however then after about a week he was continuously scratching it and penetrated through the skin in his neck while scratching at which point the lump had apparently become very soft and a white fluid/pus came out at which point we rushed him to the vet and they drained the rest of it. They concluded it was an abscess and he was fine ever since.
Now this SEEMINGLY same exact thing has returned but this time it has stayed completely solid/hard for the past 3-4 weeks and thus the doctors are concluding it can't be an abscess and it hasn't gotten soft or drained like the last time to which I can only conclude that it is something different than last time although the similarities seem very unlikely and coincidental.
Can someone please point us in the right direction what could this be? I've read and read all over the internet trying to research everything I can as the clueless vets can't tell us anything and am considering very soon to take him to a completely different vet although I'm not sure how to pick out a better one other than to just go to a random different one.
I've read possibilities of infected/swollen/messed up salivary glands, to all sorts of other things.
My question is if it is cancer how could it have grown instantly into a big growth over night or over 2 day period? How can it be mobile? Can this possibly be a cancer with such a description? What else can it be??
Thanks everyone
I have a roughly 14 or 15 year old orange persian (I think) cat. He is/was otherwise healthy and goes out into our backyard often, plays and frolicks, etc.
About 3-4 weeks ago he developed a growth on his neck, right under his jaw. It started small over night and grew bigger and bigger, to maximum size in only a few days. It is still there and big to the point that his lower lip is being stretched downward a bit because it is stretching his skin. Because of this he is not eating or drinking as much and is getting noticeably thinner and I fear he may have to be put down in the coming weeks.
Now a few things
1. we took him to the vet immediately after the growth happened. They were clueless and prescribed antibiotics for a week in the case that it's an abscess. We gave him the anti-biotics for a week but it only got worse
2. We took him to the vet again after a week or week and a half after the first visit. This time the doctor attempted to 'aspirate' it by sticking a needle in but said it's way too hard and feels almost like a bone growth which I'm sure it's not. He says it may be cancer or something else. Basically clueless, this time he gave the cat an injection that he said was a 3 week long steroid/cortisone thing of some sort that could possibly reduce the swelling.
This hasn't done anything and it is now about 2 weeks after that last visit.
3. The growth/lump is very hard and I'm pretty sure it is mobile in that it moves from day to day slightly in different positions either towards the front near the chin or from side to side underneath his jaw.
4. Important part: About 5-6 months ago this same cat had an almost IDENTICAL growth/lump on the same exact place under his jaw/neck which lasted for about a week. We took him to the vet immediately, they were clueless at that time as well and sent him home I think maybe with anti-biotics I can't remember. The lump was initially hard also back then, however then after about a week he was continuously scratching it and penetrated through the skin in his neck while scratching at which point the lump had apparently become very soft and a white fluid/pus came out at which point we rushed him to the vet and they drained the rest of it. They concluded it was an abscess and he was fine ever since.
Now this SEEMINGLY same exact thing has returned but this time it has stayed completely solid/hard for the past 3-4 weeks and thus the doctors are concluding it can't be an abscess and it hasn't gotten soft or drained like the last time to which I can only conclude that it is something different than last time although the similarities seem very unlikely and coincidental.
Can someone please point us in the right direction what could this be? I've read and read all over the internet trying to research everything I can as the clueless vets can't tell us anything and am considering very soon to take him to a completely different vet although I'm not sure how to pick out a better one other than to just go to a random different one.
I've read possibilities of infected/swollen/messed up salivary glands, to all sorts of other things.
My question is if it is cancer how could it have grown instantly into a big growth over night or over 2 day period? How can it be mobile? Can this possibly be a cancer with such a description? What else can it be??
Thanks everyone
