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So, on March 21st, my cat's right lower jaw swelled out of the blue and was painful. We rushed her to the vet that night, and they took dental x-rays and a fine needle aspirate of the lump. The aspirate showed neutrophils and tons of rod-shaped bacteria under the microscope. Based on that and the x-rays, the vet deduced that it was likely an infected abscess and that two teeth needed to be pulled (premolars). She had her extraction the next day, and they removed the little soft lump lateral to her pre-molars and kept it in formalin for possible biopsy.
On April 1st, we brought her to the vet again as her mouth was irritating her. We thought it was the stitches, but the vet said they had all melted. The little red lump lateral to where her pre-molars are was back. It was soft, not ulcerated, and very small. They gave her a second Convenia injection and a buprenorphine injection. They said if it didn't go away in three weeks, to come back. However, we do NOT want to wait three weeks. We asked them to send the biopsy they had done, and they said they wanted to wait. She no longer has the jaw lump, btw.
Then, I got an email saying they're actually going to send out the biopsy (???). At this point, I made an appointment with a dental specialist 4 hours away. We're going tomorrow.
I have a suspicion that this is oral squamous cell carcinoma. She does not have bleeding or drooling, though.
Questions:
1. All sources say FOSCC is not curable. If the cancer is caught early, is not in the bone (just in soft tissue), is resected, and the cat is put on Palladia, is cure possible? I can't find ANY sources showing ANY cats being cured of this disease or even surviving long term.
2. Does Palladia make ANY difference?
3. I live in Canada and do not have access to immunotherapy injection, Torigen. Does anyone know if Canada has any immunotherapy for FOSCC cats?
On April 1st, we brought her to the vet again as her mouth was irritating her. We thought it was the stitches, but the vet said they had all melted. The little red lump lateral to where her pre-molars are was back. It was soft, not ulcerated, and very small. They gave her a second Convenia injection and a buprenorphine injection. They said if it didn't go away in three weeks, to come back. However, we do NOT want to wait three weeks. We asked them to send the biopsy they had done, and they said they wanted to wait. She no longer has the jaw lump, btw.
Then, I got an email saying they're actually going to send out the biopsy (???). At this point, I made an appointment with a dental specialist 4 hours away. We're going tomorrow.
I have a suspicion that this is oral squamous cell carcinoma. She does not have bleeding or drooling, though.
Questions:
1. All sources say FOSCC is not curable. If the cancer is caught early, is not in the bone (just in soft tissue), is resected, and the cat is put on Palladia, is cure possible? I can't find ANY sources showing ANY cats being cured of this disease or even surviving long term.
2. Does Palladia make ANY difference?
3. I live in Canada and do not have access to immunotherapy injection, Torigen. Does anyone know if Canada has any immunotherapy for FOSCC cats?
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