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When I took Shadow to the vet a few months ago, a tiny, very hard lump was found. Too tiny for a needle biopsy. The new vet had the old vet's records and said the lump could be mammary cancer, could be a calcium deposit, could be scar tissue from the last surgery. We decided on watchful waiting.
Well the good news is the lump hasn't gotten any bigger. The bad news is I found a second lump.
That lump is very hard to find, of the 5 checks I've done since the vet visit, I have only found it 3 times, and not 3 times in a row. Part of the problem is that Shadow was 19 pounds at one point and she is currently just under 14 pounds and she has a lot of loose skin in the abdominal area.
The lump is decent sized, irregular feeling, it feels like it has a football shape instead of being round. It's decent enough sized, maybe half an inch across, and has been also consistently sized that it had to be there at the appointment and I'm surprised the vet didn't find it. The placement......she shouldn't have mammary tissue there. Or it's just barely on the side that still has mammary tissue, it's pretty close to mid-line. Hard to narrow down exactly due to the loose skin.
The thing is, I know that I won't seek treatment for it. So what would be the point to go back to the vet at this point? What would be the point to ask for a needle biopsy? If I'm watching the size and checking for ulceration and she's as happily b****y as ever, do I need to go to the vet just to hear 'Yep, there's a lump"?
Before people jump on me for not seeking treatment, Shadow is 18 years old. She was 10 years old when the first tumor was removed; they removed just the tumor and she bounced back quick. She was 14 when they removed the next two lumps and that time they removed 3 of the mammary glands on the affected side. She had a very hard time recovering from that surgery. Now she's 4 years older, recovery will be even harder simply due to age. When the tiny lump was found and I said I wouldn't do surgery again, the vet agreed that at her age surgery is a dicey prospect.
The only thing going in her favor is the vet said that most cats her age are skin and bones and she was happy that Shadow was a pound overweight. Age, the difficulty in recovering last time, the fact that she has so little energy that she probably sleeps 18-20 hours a day, the arthritis that keeps her from moving a lot.....the odds aren't in her favor.
And even if I put her through surgery, for what purpose? Yeah, so she has a track record of going 4 years between tumors. That's longer than usual. But they keep coming back. They just keep coming back. And there's no guarantee that it will be 4 years again. It could be 6 months instead.
I know I've made my decision. I just gotta learn to live with it. I was just hoping the tiny lump was scar tissue and there wouldn't be any more for a while longer.
Well the good news is the lump hasn't gotten any bigger. The bad news is I found a second lump.
That lump is very hard to find, of the 5 checks I've done since the vet visit, I have only found it 3 times, and not 3 times in a row. Part of the problem is that Shadow was 19 pounds at one point and she is currently just under 14 pounds and she has a lot of loose skin in the abdominal area.
The lump is decent sized, irregular feeling, it feels like it has a football shape instead of being round. It's decent enough sized, maybe half an inch across, and has been also consistently sized that it had to be there at the appointment and I'm surprised the vet didn't find it. The placement......she shouldn't have mammary tissue there. Or it's just barely on the side that still has mammary tissue, it's pretty close to mid-line. Hard to narrow down exactly due to the loose skin.
The thing is, I know that I won't seek treatment for it. So what would be the point to go back to the vet at this point? What would be the point to ask for a needle biopsy? If I'm watching the size and checking for ulceration and she's as happily b****y as ever, do I need to go to the vet just to hear 'Yep, there's a lump"?
Before people jump on me for not seeking treatment, Shadow is 18 years old. She was 10 years old when the first tumor was removed; they removed just the tumor and she bounced back quick. She was 14 when they removed the next two lumps and that time they removed 3 of the mammary glands on the affected side. She had a very hard time recovering from that surgery. Now she's 4 years older, recovery will be even harder simply due to age. When the tiny lump was found and I said I wouldn't do surgery again, the vet agreed that at her age surgery is a dicey prospect.
The only thing going in her favor is the vet said that most cats her age are skin and bones and she was happy that Shadow was a pound overweight. Age, the difficulty in recovering last time, the fact that she has so little energy that she probably sleeps 18-20 hours a day, the arthritis that keeps her from moving a lot.....the odds aren't in her favor.
And even if I put her through surgery, for what purpose? Yeah, so she has a track record of going 4 years between tumors. That's longer than usual. But they keep coming back. They just keep coming back. And there's no guarantee that it will be 4 years again. It could be 6 months instead.
I know I've made my decision. I just gotta learn to live with it. I was just hoping the tiny lump was scar tissue and there wouldn't be any more for a while longer.