Tumour near windpipe - terminal

[Furrywurrypurry]

I’ll post a little more information further down but wanted to get to the point in initial post. Following ultrasound and fine needle aspiration my cat has been diagnosed with a tumour. The location is on the left side next to the windpipe. It was estimated to be the size of a lime, by the vet on discovery. It has grown in the 12 days since the ultrasound. We don’t know what type of tumour it is as I’ve declined further biopsy due to the haemorrhage risk. The vet feels that the risk/reward of trying to obtain further samples simply isn’t favourable. Suggested tumour types as per the aspiration are adenoma/carcinoma/ carotid body tumour.
The vet is unable to give me a any kind of life expectancy because they don’t know what it is, and both vets have said they haven’t seen anything like it, even the results of the FNR stated that there was the presence of rare pink extreacellular tissue, making it unusual. All we do know is that we can’t treat her any further and she has been put on prednisone to keep her comfortable.
I’m posting here to see if anyone has experience anything similar.
Obviously we are devastated and although this post may seem matter of fact, I’m only writing in this way so that I’m not posting a long winded essay for people to read. I’m just really that as many people take the time to read as possible in the hopes that there might be someone who has had the same experience, since apparently this seems so unusual.
I should add that thyroid tumour has been ruled out.
Thank you for taking the time to read.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh my gosh. No, no experience but the first thing that came to my mind is that awful thing will end up pressing against her windpipe and effect her breathing.

I believe that will be the deciding factor regarding quality of life. I'm so sorry

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

Furballsmom this was what the vet said. That her breathing will eventually be impacted. I don’t want to get remotely close to that happening. She’s well in every other respect and I don’t think this will be a case of a gradual decline in health like it was with my boy who I lost to cancer.

 

[Furballsmom]

I don't even have words. I'm so, so sorry.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

I don't even have words. I'm so, so sorry.

Thank you

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

This is precious (full name my precious). She is 13, has been with us since she was 12 weeks old. We have been lucky in that she has never suffered any health problems until now.
We lost her companion smeagol in February, precious joined him in our lives when smeagol was 1 year old. She adored him and copied and followed him her entire life. I guess she wants to follow him one last time.

 

[Furballsmom]

She is beautiful

 

[catloverfromwayback]

I am so sorry. Something similar took my Thomas in 1993. He came inside the day he was due to go to a cattery while my mother and I were overseas with a big swelling on his neck. Cattery cancelled, Thomas to vet. We flew out the next day (everything had been booked and paid for long since, we couldn’t cancel). Faxes to and from London, and the news was that it was a malignant cancer and they couldn’t operate because it was right on the jugular. They said euthanasia was the only option to spare him pain. We never saw our lovely boy again.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

She is beautiful

Thank you, she is everything to me

 

[fionasmom]

My Precious and Smeagol...She is a beautiful little girl. I am very sorry that you are facing this and agree that the tumor, even if benign, is in a precarious place where there are serious risks related to removing it.

Sudden Large, Hard Growth (tumor?) On Side Of Kitty's Neck
There is not a lot here on TCS about this type of tumor and the above thread is not conclusive, but might be similar.

Search Results for Query: tumor windpipe
Search Results for Query: tumor in neck
Searching brings up greatly diverse conditions ranging from dental issues to abscesses to jaw conditions to growths.

You seem as if you are very aware of My Precious's issue and are monitoring her carefully. That is the most and best that you can do for her and hopefully she may have quality of life for sometime to come.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

catloverfromwayback
Thank you and I’m so sorry you experienced this. Honestly it seems to have appeared so quickly. We found it because she started hiding behaviour and as a result I checked her all over and came across it. That must’ve been 4 weeks ago maybe less, it’s all a bit jumbled.
It’s a similar situation, the vet offered to refer us to a specialist to see if they could biopsy and potentially offer surgery pending the outcome of the biopsy, because the risk of bleeding was so great. I declined and the vet agreed it was the right choice but that she had to offer the option.
I think where I’m at now is that question of when is it time. That question kept me awake every night for 4 months with my boy, but he declined a little each day in the last week of his life and I knew when the time came what to do. I think this is a little different in the sense of that I think this tumour will impact her vital functions before any real decline in overall health occurs. I believe that she could be breathing normally one hour and not the next and I’m not sure what to do.
I don’t ever want her to struggle to breathe but currently she is fine in every other way, or so I think. The pain relief has taken away the hiding behaviour so obviously she feels better. How much better I can only guess. But she seems ‘normal’. But the tumour is visible and large, she is shaved in that area now and I can see it very clearly.
I honestly don’t know what to do and when to do it.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

fionasmom thank you for the resources you have posted. I’ll definitely take a look.

I think we are where we are and my main reason for posting is to try to see if anyone has experienced anything similar to see what to expect in terms of prognosis.

it’s the age old conundrum of when is it to early to intervene and when is it too late

 

[fionasmom]

Absolutely a very valid concern. One of my German shepherds had degenerative myelopathy which is MS/ALS in dogs. As it progresses, it affects breathing for an entirely different reason than that which is facing My Precious. Any disruption in the ability to breathe becomes quite clear if you watch carefully. Even stoic animals like cats cannot hide the loss of that function very well. However, if the first sign that things are worsening is not directly related to breathing, but to hiding, pain, or change in behavior I would take note of that as well.

I would evaluate her every day, even on days that seem good, and watch for any subtle change. If the tumor were to suddenly move into a crucial state, have a plan with your vet, a home vet, or an ER for any time of the day or night. Make sure that your vet knows that you may need to just come in...no making an appointment or waiting three days. If you feel that you are not powerless to help her, it will alleviate some of the pain of all of this.

 

[Mighty Orange]

I gave my cat Sammy pitopet it was a homeopathic anti-cancer mushroom. Sammy had lung cancer with a life expectancy of 6 months. The cancer started shrinking, but in the end he lived for 2 years longer.

 

[iPappy]

This is precious (full name my precious). She is 13, has been with us since she was 12 weeks old. We have been lucky in that she has never suffered any health problems until now.
We lost her companion smeagol in February, precious joined him in our lives when smeagol was 1 year old. She adored him and copied and followed him her entire life. I guess she wants to follow him one last time.

She is absolutely adorable, and I am so sorry about this diagnosis. I hate cancer so much.
I had something similar crop up in one of my cats, but unfortunately it came on very suddenly (leading us all to believe it had been there for awhile, he was just either not affected or was able to mask the symptoms) so it would be hard for me to tell you what kind of a time line or prognosis he had once the tumor appeared vs. once it caused some problems for him. He seemed normal and no one suspected a thing. One day he began hiding, which wasn't unusual for him, but when I started petting him I noticed a fluid filled sack around his lymph node/throat area under the skin. We got right to the vet and by the time he was examined, I swear it had gotten larger. It was causing problems and cutting off his lymph drainage. He was NOT in respiratory distress at that time, but at that point the prognosis was days with palliative care. The fact the fluid was building up rapidly and my normally chill stoic cat was crying out caused me to make a very difficult decision on March 7, 2022. I wish the very best for you both.

 

[reba]

I haven’t. I just wanted to say that I’m so very sorry. I hate this stage when there’s no way to get comfortable with any decision.

I always find this video helpful:

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

fionasmom thank you for the advice I will try to follow all of it

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

iPappy

Im sorry for your loss.

you’re situation does sound quite similar with the exception of the type of lump. Precious lump is hard and it is attached and not moveable.
She did however hide initially, that was the reason I gave her a good examination and found the lump. My initial thought was infection because her hiding behaviour came on so suddenly but this was ruled out by the vet the next day. The vet recommended a thyroid blood test because she suspected a possible thyroid tumour but she remarked on the strange nature of the lump.
We took precious home and the hiding behaviour escalated to a point where she went into my husbands office and hid under a cabinet and wouldn’t come out. I wasn’t sure if it was because we had taken her to the vet, she’s a very shy cat, but the following day the vet came back having ruled out thyroid tumour and prescribed antibiotics and anti inflammatory as a ‘let’s try this’ we also booked her in for the ultrasound and biopsy. Within around 2 hours of administering the anti inflammatory the hiding stopped and she returned to normal, clearly there was a lot of discomfort there. We finished the antibiotics to no avail and I kept her on the anti inflammatories until this Wednesday when she was prescribed steroids. I haven’t noticed any changes since she started the steroids for better or worse. She’s still behaving as normal. However I have noticed the last few days that she hasn’t come to sit on my pillow at various points through.
I believe like you that this may have been there for some time but I have no way of knowing how long. But I’m guessing for the vet to notice difference in size in just 12 days that there is some speed to its growth.
I guess the pain relief is doing it’s thing since the hiding behaviour hasn’t recurred, but it’s not to say that she isn’t in any pain at all it’s just not severe enough to trigger the hiding and I never want it to get to that again. The vet also suggested that the other main concern is that she may struggle to eat. No issues there currently but again I don’t want to get there.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

Mighty Orange

thanks I’ll take a look at this, I’m uk based and I did find a powdered mushroom supplement for my boy when he was diagnosed however the quantities I had to get down him just weren’t practical, he hated the stuff and so I never really got chance to see if it worked but I have heard wonderful things about mushrooms when it comes to cancer.

 

[Furrywurrypurry]

reba

thank you for this, it’s an invaluable resource and something I wish I had watched several months back when my boy was diagnosed.