A good/caring pet oncologist and/or surgeon recommendation needed in VA, MD or DC, please!

Hi, I have found this forum while desperately searching for help for those who have gone through the same trauma of learning their beloved pet has cancer! Today, during a regular annual exam, we found out that our pet (Kapkap, 9 year old Calico) has a tumor in her mammary. The vet took two x-rays and when she came to tell us the news she said "Your cat have mammary cancer and most probably it has already metastatic (She said she is almost sure due to lung xrays). She said "She has only a few weeks left".

As much as feeling shocked and numb from sorrow, I still don't get how she was so sure without taking an MRI or even drawing blood. Of course x-rays can be great diagnostic tool but the fact that she didn't even want to send us to an oncologist because our pets needs sedation during exams and the fact that she stated this several times makes me feel pissed off! I hope there are some out there who lives in Virginia, Maryland or DC and could recommend us a good (with human feelings) pet oncologist (or surgeon) who would be willing to give it a try! Has anyone got help from an oncologist and happy with the experience? I really need to find one who really cares the wellness of my cat!

She is my baby and I don't want to give up so easy. God bless you!

Mom of Kapkap the Cat.

I am sorry that kitty is sick, but am happy that you are not willing to give up on her. I hope you find someone that can help. Not sure if this helps but it might be a good place to start http://www.vetratingz.com/ best of luck. 

KapkapTheCat said:

 
Hi, I have found this forum while desperately searching for help for those who have gone through the same trauma of learning their beloved pet has cancer! Today, during a regular annual exam, we found out that our pet (Kapkap, 9 year old Calico) has a tumor in her mammary. The vet took two x-rays and when she came to tell us the news she said "Your cat have mammary cancer and most probably it has already metastatic (She said she is almost sure due to lung xrays). She said "She has only a few weeks left".

As much as feeling shocked and numb from sorrow, I still don't get how she was so sure without taking an MRI or even drawing blood. Of course x-rays can be great diagnostic tool but the fact that she didn't even want to send us to an oncologist because our pets needs sedation during exams and the fact that she stated this several times makes me feel pissed off! I hope there are some out there who lives in Virginia, Maryland or DC and could recommend us a good (with human feelings) pet oncologist (or surgeon) who would be willing to give it a try! Has anyone got help from an oncologist and happy with the experience? I really need to find one who really cares the wellness of my cat!

She is my baby and I don't want to give up so easy. God bless you!

Mom of Kapkap the Cat.

Click to expand...

hi and welcome to TCS!

i'm so sorry that your KapKap has been diagnosed with cancer.

i don't have experience in this area, but i'm sure members who do have experience will reply soon.

in the meantime, i've done a little searching on the internet, and have come up with a couple websites that i hope will be helpful for you. the first website says it's a 'comprehensive guide to cancer diagnosis and treatment in cats and dogs', and also has a list of veterinary oncologists and related by state -- http://www.petcancercenter.org/Veterinary_Oncologists_US_p1.html .  the second website looks like it offers the same -- http://www.vetcancersociety.org/pet-owners/find-an-oncologist/

There is a clinical trial at this university hospital near Toronto for the same type of cancer your kitty has 

http://ovc.uoguelph.ca/icci/trials/...or-the-treatment-of-mammary-carcinoma-in-cats

One good thing is that with the exchange rate, you will save 25 cents on the dollar if you decide to bring her up to Canada for treatment.  Good luck to you and KapKap

Hi mom of KapKapTheCat and welcome to the forum !

While 'Vet Ratings" - and other "ratings" sites - are all the rage in the New Age, those of us with more real-time life experience 'under our belts' will know that they are the LAST place to go to find honest, well-intentioned, well-informed and "straight-up" opinions.

Since 1999 (that's 16 years ago) there has been a specialized community of feline cancer caregivers online.....and, since then, almost 3000 cat "owners"/guardians have been members and participated in all sorts of discussions/information-sharing there. It's a very active and busy place where a new member will be warmly welcomed and provided with only the latest and best information on treatments and care.....many of these specialized groups also maintain lists of competent feline Veterinarians and specialists.

Now, if you think that might be a place where you'd be likely to find a specialist Veterinarian (and be with people " who have gone through the same trauma of learning their beloved pet has cancer").......then, you'll find that place right here: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/feline-cancer/info

These groups use email as their operating platform (so, they appear different on your screen from forums like this - which may take a little getting used to)....I find that it's much easier to manage the information flow by getting a new separate email address to be used only for that group (Yahoo mail works well with them).

One of my cats is now in palliative care mode. I'm fortunate to already have all the resources and support we both need.....BUT, I can assure you that, if I were in your position, I would already be participating in that group.

AS for that "veterinarian" who wouldn't as much as provide the name of a specialist.....well, she'd never see my face again, never mind any of my cats !

I really hope something there will help.....and, joining there doesn't mean leaving us! Many TCS members can relate to your new reality....let us know where this new journey is taking you.

Thank you so much for those who took the time to reply and tried to help Kapkap. And White Shadow, I have just become a member of the group you mentioned and sent a message and hoping to hear from someone in VA, DC or MD who had a pleasant experience with an oncologist. 

I have just talked to the vet who did the diagnosis yesterday to ask for an oncologist anyway, she was cold, no feeling and blunt again! She said she only has 24 hours left since she believes she has metastatic cancer in her lungs. She told us "She will suffer too much so I suggest not to bring her to any oncologist because of the mass she saw in her lungs. She is not an ideal patient for chemo and if you would like us to put her sleep, give us a call next week" 

But the real question is can the vet be wrong in any way? Miracles do happen in life, right? And this is the time that I really need a miracle. So we won't give up on her. 

Approximately 15 days ago she started coughing/gagging sort of thing. She was behaving like she was trying to spit out some hairball. She was doing that for a few minutes several times a day, especially after eating. We thought she has upset stomach or such kind of stuff. And waited for her to get a bit better. Gave her a little bit of a herbal drop and she responded well and ate after each time we gave her the upset stomach drop. So we never got suspicious but for the last week she lost weight all of a sudden and started to get lethargic and was hesitant to jump on the couch. So we got suspicious and went to an area vet. Kapkap has never been an easy to handle cat. She hisses and paws the technicians when they try to examine her. So they always go for sedation. That's why we were refraining from frequent visits to vets just because she feels awful after sedation and we were afraid that sedation might hurt her if done each time. 

I am so sorry that we missed the tumor and it has become metastatic. But she never lets us touch her tummy and she has very long hair in her tummy. Even when she lied on her back, we never saw a tumorous thing on her. But yesterday I saw the tumor (almost 1.5-2 inches) while she was in the exam room and sedated. 

Vet says she has maybe 24 hours left but if she makes it till Monday I really want to try an oncologist. 

No matter what they say, I would like to find a "human" and "compassionate" oncologist to give Kapkap at least a chance if the treatment won't hurt her any more. So asking again:

I am looking for your help to find an oncologist you worked with and had a pleasant experience with in Virginia, Maryland or DC. My first preference would be VA but I could go anywhere within these 3 states.

Has anyone got help from an oncologist and happy with the experience? I really need to find one who really cares the wellness of my cat! 

Please pray for Kapkap. God bless you!

Mom of Kapkap the Cat.

in my experience -- yes! the vet can possibly be wrong. my snick was diagnosed in (i'm thinking that was) 2012 with cancer, vet said most likely lymphoma. this diagnosis was made by our veterinarian (and a very very good vet) based on snick's very high blood calcium levels (multiple blood tests run over months), because snick has chronic kidney disease). we started snick on prednisone (not prednisolone) daily. every other month blood work continued, to keep track of snick's CKD. note that snick did and continues to be given sub-q fluids, but they're no calcium fluids -- first sodium chloride, and currently normosol-r. around about november-ish of 2013 i was discussing snick's medical issues with our vet, and mentioned that snick's calcium level had not continued to rise and asked the vet wouldn't the levels be continuing to rise if it were cancer? well our vet took snick's file (that was the thickness of a book at that point) home with her the following weekend, and spent part of her weekend going over that and all the other things vet's do to gather info in unusual situations. and i got a call from her on the following tuesday, when she told me that she was changing snick's diagnosis to idiopathic hypercalcemia -- no cancer. that was absolutely the best Christmas gift i'd ever received! now snick's idiopathic hypercalcemia resolved itself at some point, left as mysteriously as it started. so i'd say that in our case the vet wasn't so much wrong as made a reasonable original diagnosis, which she changed after some months.

with medical things, i think it's never a bad idea to seek a second opinion. just to make sure nothing was overlooked or not considered.

btw -- that's a pic of my snick in my avatar.

Oh, no, I'm so sorry! I had two cats that died of mammary cancer, and it was really, really difficult. I would recommended the oncologist I saw, but unfortunately, that was in Wisconsin. I was really happy with him, but I had mitigating circumstances that made continuing treatment impossible. We did double mastectomies and chemotherapy as the treatment options which I truly did think extend Sweetie's life (they guessed six months for her and I had her for about two years after), but additional treatments and Ember's treatment got complicated by the fact that I now had two cats with cancer, I had a non-oncologist do her mastectomy to save money and it wasn't successful, and then I lost my job and had to stop the treatments. But if you want any information about mastectomies and chemo, I can tell you how that went with my cats!

If the cancer has truly spread to the lungs, I'm not sure if there is anything they can do -- is she still at the vet now, or is she at home? If she is on oxygen, she might last longer, long enough to get a second opinion, and I agree that it would be a good idea to do so.

I wanted to update everyone. I got a few appointments from different oncologists today. I don't know why but I am having anxiety attacks thinking about the possibility of not choosing the one who would give Kapkap the best treatment options ever. I got some recommendations from cat lovers but still stressed out. Will update soon. Praying for miracles!

Mom of Kapkap the Cat.