Cat with tumor on lip

Salem my 15 yr old has a non cancerous growth on his mouth. It's getting bigger & it's looking like only option is surgery. Vet says not rodent ulcer & said we could leave alone if it's not bothering him or remove. Trying to get some advice. Thks Sheila. .

Ouch! Definitely doesn't look like a rodent ulcer to me either. I'd have the vet do a biopsy to see if it's malignant or not. Either way, it might be worth removing it before it gets any bigger and interferes with kitty's eating.

We had a biopsy done & it came back benign. That was probably 3mths ago. It didn't look this bad back then. I'm going to plan on having it removed as I feel it's just not going to go away. We haven't tried any meds such as antibiotics or allergy meds. In dec they tried depo medrol shot which only resulted in Salem developing diabetes. The lip issue was put on hold until diabetes was under control. He was on Lantus insulin for approx 4weeks then off as his levels became normal. He was diagnosed with herpes before this as his eye was cloudy, runny & steroid drops cleared that up. Vets can't come up with any other solution but removing it. Again because he's 15 yrs old I put that out of my mind as I don't want to lose him that way. He has lost some weight due to change in diet from diabetes & probably the lip problem. I would say he lost approx 4lbs since Dec. when he saw vet in Dec he was almost 12 lbs & I thought a nice weight. He didn't look overweight to me but they said he was. I feel he's too thin now. Do I think we should try any other things before heading into surgery?