Found out bad news about my dear furbaby today....

[Bethannk511]

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Well, today I found out that a mammary tumor my dear furbaby cat Libby had removed was indeed cancerous. Here's how our story goes.....

I'm Beth and I adopted Libby, a 3 year old brittish short hair rescue, on 3/31/2009. If you know NJ or the surrounding city areas of Philly, you'll know that Trenton's a not so nice town. Well, Libby (or Libs as I like to call her) was found wandering the streets of Trenton, all 4 paws declawed and not spayed. She was brought to Camden Animal Shelter which is a kill shelter and later rescued by Lifeline Animal Rescue from Warren, NJ. I was on petfinder one day, she was the first cat that came up and i immedietly fell in love.

About 2 weeks ago, I found a lump on Libbys chest. I had my mom look at it while she was over visiting and she said she couldn't see anything so I knew it was internal. I called the vet first thing Monday morning and made an appointment for Wednesday. The doctor was very concerned that it would be cancer. He said 98% of feline mammary tumors are malignant. He did a needle aspiration test and those results came back on Friday as benign. That gave me a glimmer of hope, but, those tests are not 100% accurate.

She had the gland removed this past Friday and came home that same night. She's pretty miserable and HATES the collar to prevent her from licking so I give her some time off from that (the brat gets out of it anyway!!)

So today the doctor called. Sadly, the mass was malignant according to the biopsy. I'm very sad for this. It just doesn't seem fair. Basically, she'll be re-examined on Monday to make sure they dont find any more lumps and her lymph nodes will be checked. If all is clear, they'll follow up in a month and I just have to look for lumps in the future. Feline mammary cancer is fatal and even if it was found early, she could only have about 3 years. If it's too late, 6 months, but, there's no way to tell when symptoms will start. She's symptom free now which is good.

I'm so sad for her. I know there's nothing i can do but love her, monitor her, and enjoy every minute that God allows me to have with her.

Thanks for listening. I just needed to get this out and ask for prayers for my sweet little furbaby.

[mommasita]

I am so sorry to hear this. I can imagine how you feel. Both my cats are rescues, and we are attached at the hip. They are my 3rd and 4th children. I will keep good thoughts going out. You never know.

[TashaRVT]

My heart goes out to you, it really and truly does. There's not too much I can say to ease the sting you're feeling, but I'm sorry.

I'm a registered vet technician, and I see these kinds of results come in far too often.
So many people ask, "why..??" and I wish that I had an answer for them. It breaks my heart to see the tears and despair in ppl's eyes when they find out.

The good news in your case is that it sounds like you found the lump fairly early, and your vet treated it fairly aggressively by removing it right away. Those are all great things! The best thing you can do is just to love her, and cherish her; she may be around for quite some time to come. Good nutrition and proper care is essential in keeping her healthy and strong.
And try to remember that even if she were to pass away tomorrow, you gave her the most love and dignity she's probably ever had in her life.