Please any advice, my kitty has mammary tumors

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and I found out this past Monday that my cat Cookie, has mammary tumors.  I went to the vet on Monday after I found a lump on her belly.  She is still eating and drinking and acting normally.  They said they can do the surgery but it would be $1,700. The vet also said they would do a lumpectomy and not take out the mammary chain.  I don't know what to think of all this.  I am confused and they say the tumors could come back.  She is 12 years old. If anyone has any advice or experience with this type of cancer, please help.

As far as I know the entire mammary chain has to come out. Otherwise it can just grow right back. It is a big surgery and you really should see a specialist in internal medicine or an animal cancer facility. The cats that I have known have also had chemo after surgery and they did okay for a few years. It is different with every cat. But, I would definitely think the entire chain should go. $1700.00 to just remove a lump is allot. Also you don't want cells from that tumor to spread around if there are not good margins on the surgery.

Yes, that is what I was thinking as well.  Why would they only want to do a lumpectomy on her?  I am going to get a second opinion.  I am also wondering if anyone went through with the surgery on their cat and if the lumps came back, and how the cat was after surgery, in pain...etc  I am on the fence about if I should go through with surgery or let her live her life til it's time to let her go.  This is one of the hardest things i've ever had to deal with.

I knew of one cat personally that went through it. The surgery recovery was involved. It wasn't an easy fix by any means. It got that little cat an extra 3 years I think. Maybe 5. But the quality of life was good after the surgery recovery time which involved about 1 month all total. If you get a second opinion go to a boarded specialist. That way you get the most information for your $. Also get records sent to whichever vet you chose so you don't have to repeat tests.

There is a cat named Queen Tallulah, her mom is Peggy. She did allot to try to educate people about this. You could try to google her and see what you find. I think she kept a really detailed diary. Unfortunately her cat didn't make it past a year I think.

Thank you for your advice, I'm not sure if I am going to do the surgery. I want her to live her last time left as comfortable as possible and not being cut open, as I know she would hate it and probably suffer, she already hates going to the vet and she has a 2 1/2 cm tumor, I spoke to the vet and she said she's seen cases where after a few months it comes right back after surgery, but more aggressively and it spreads to other areas. It's a guarded prognosis any way you look at it. Makes me scared for her, I know the time will come at some point. The vet said we can do pain meds and put her on diff. food when she starts showing symptoms to make her comfortable, which is what I'm going to do.

I am reading queen tallulahs blogs and is helping me deal with all of this, thanks for telling me about it. I have also joined a pet cancer support group to help with what I'm dealing with.

If anyone has any advice or wants to share if they went through the same thing with their kitty please I'd love to hear your stories, it helps deal with the pain.

Hi cookiebear291 !

There are a couple of specialized online info/support groups that I would be joining/checking out if I were faced with this.

One is feline-mammary-cancer-specific and the other, more general, but again for cats.

These groups are known to be the best reservoir of collective personal experience online as well as for their being in-the-know about the most recent treatments/drug trials etc.

The first:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FelineMammaryCancer/info

Group 2:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/feline-cancer/info

They are "private" groups, so postings are viewable only with free membership - just click the  +Join Group   button

These groups use email as their operating platform - I find that having a separate email address  for each helps manage the info flow best.

I hope you might find some info/support there.

Thank you, I have joined one group.