Cat has growth on gums

[jamesg66]

There is a neighborhood cat that I take care of. Lately he has not been eating. His tongue is sticking out a lot and drooling. Some times there is blood. When I checked there is a strange growth on his upper gums on the left side.

My question is what kinda bill would I be looking at? I am tight on money right now. Anyone have experience with this problem?

 

[pushylady]

The cost will really depend on where you live. Here in Canada it's expensive just to take a cat in to get looked at. I know in the States you have more options in finding a cheaper vet.
As to the cost of treatment, it's impossible to say without knowing what the growth is. Could be an injury from fighting, a tumour, a resorptive lesion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_odontoclastic_resorptive_lesion ... only a vet could tell you.

To give you some idea, my cat currently has a resorptive lesion in his lower mouth. He has a weird tooth that is being reabsorbed. My vet said to basically leave it, so we're just keeping an eye on it for now. However, my other cat has had two operations to remove bad teeth and we've spent probably a couple of thousand on him.

I hope you can get this cat into the vet soon, and that the news isn't bad! :cross:

 

[oneandahalfcats]

Hi there .. First of all, thanks for looking after this fellow.

One of my previous cats developed oral cancer and the lump was found under his tongue through a teeth cleaning. The lump was biopsied to confirm that it was squamous cell carcinoma.

The lump on this kitty's gums sounds like it could be one of a few things : abscess from a bad tooth, stomatitis which is an oral disease affecting the gums, or squamous cell carcinoma (oral cancer) which can appear in different places beside the tongue. The cost will consist of an examination and possible biopsy if the vet can't make a determination from sight alone.

As pushylady mentioned, its hard to make a determination about cost. You might want to call around to some clinics in your area and explain your situation to see if you can get some quotes on the cost for evaluating the lump? I hope that it isn't cancer, as squamous cell is a particular aggressive kind and treatment is often unsuccessful. But it sounds very likely that it could be a bad abscess or stomatitis which is treatable. I wish you and this kitty, all the best of luck.

 

[jamesg66]

thanks a lot.

This is definitely some kind of tumor because I've looked up images on Google and it looks similar. Hopefully I can get something done for a grand or less.

 

[stephenq]

Your vet (and you can request this) will give you a written estimate of treatment after they do a basic exam, and it may include options.

 

[stephanie42]

The cost will really depend on where you live. Here in Canada it's expensive just to take a cat in to get looked at. I know in the States you have more options in finding a cheaper vet.
As to the cost of treatment, it's impossible to say without knowing what the growth is. Could be an injury from fighting, a tumour, a resorptive lesion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_odontoclastic_resorptive_lesion ... only a vet could tell you.

To give you some idea, my cat currently has a resorptive lesion in his lower mouth. He has a weird tooth that is being reabsorbed. My vet said to basically leave it, so we're just keeping an eye on it for now. However, my other cat has had two operations to remove bad teeth and we've spent probably a couple of thousand on him.

I hope you can get this cat into the vet soon, and that the news isn't bad!

a bit off topic, but if your cat does have a resorptive lesion, they are generally very painful.  i didn't realize how much pain my piglet must have been in while my old vet misdiagnosed/refused to diagnose FORL, but within two days of having the offending teeth removed (all four canines), she's SO much more playful - i haven't seen her like this in months.  we just attributed her slowing down to age (9.5 years old), but it was because she was in pain

@JamesG66, also try calling your local town shelter to see if they have any programs for helping feral cats.  where i used to live, we would rent or borrow traps to trap ferals and bring them to the town shelter.  they would spay/neuter and give a rabies shot for free if you could prove you lived in the town.  they also tipped their ears so it was easy to see if a feral cat had already been tended to.  one of the ferals we brought in had a horrible infection (pyometra) and we had to keep her inside for a few days.  that was fun... we borrowed a dog crate from a friend.  she took to a small litter pan without trouble but hated us so much lol.

 

[pushylady]

a bit off topic, but if your cat does have a resorptive lesion, they are generally very painful.  i didn't realize how much pain my piglet must have been in while my old vet misdiagnosed/refused to diagnose FORL, but within two days of having the offending teeth removed (all four canines), she's SO much more playful - i haven't seen her like this in months.  we just attributed her slowing down to age (9.5 years old), but it was because she was in pain

@JamesG66
, also try calling your local town shelter to see if they have any programs for helping feral cats.  where i used to live, we would rent or borrow traps to trap ferals and bring them to the town shelter.  they would spay/neuter and give a rabies shot for free if you could prove you lived in the town.  they also tipped their ears so it was easy to see if a feral cat had already been tended to.  one of the ferals we brought in had a horrible infection (pyometra) and we had to keep her inside for a few days.  that was fun... we borrowed a dog crate from a friend.  she took to a small litter pan without trouble but hated us so much lol.

For two weeks before taking them for their annual vet visit, I went to town brushing their teeth every day. Every time I "brushed' (just used my finger with old nylons as per my vet instructions) Wigg's left side, he would squirm and desperately try to get away. I had no idea he had this going on. I can't ever get a good look at their teeth like the vet can. I felt so bad when she showed me and told me what was going on.
That's amazing that you have organizations that will spay for free!!! I know of one vet in this area who tried to set up low cost spay/neuters and got shut down by the other vets.

 

[jfed]

My childhood cat was recently euthanized last Christmas because of squamous cell carcinoma. 

He lost his appetite, started sneezing a lot, one of his eyes were constantly leaking, and he would drool quite a bit. My folks thought it was maybe a respiratory infection or something, took him in to the vet and they found a tumor on the roof of his mouth. The poor angel...

They did a biopsy on it to confirm that it was SCC and excised as much as they could, but it had already spread up into his sinuses that was in late October and we felt that his quality of life was getting too poor by mid-December to continue on. 

The biopsy and excision cost my parents approx. $300, that's here in Canada. Then they continued on with some anti-inflammatory and pain relief meds until we put him to sleep.  There was the option of radiation in another nearby city but we decided that was not only too expensive but far too stressful to put my boy through without any guarantee of a cure.

All in all, it cost about $1000 for the biopsy/excision, meds, and at home euthanasia (which is more expensive)

It was an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. SCC is a nasty disease and a leading cause of oral tumors in felines. I hate to sound pessimistic but the symptoms just sound a little all too familiar to me.

Please get the biopsy at least, and if the poor thing does indeed have SCC then prepare yourself for a sad scenario, and see to it that in the end he can be humanely put to sleep because the natural course of SCC is not kind on their little bodies.

You're very kind for helping this cat. I certainly hope it will be a best case scenario kind of thing....