Lewis cancer scare

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Noah & me (GA)

Noah & me (GA)

Member Since 2016
Lewis and Andy came to us ten years ago after a family members suicide attempt. Simon and Andrew had just died (both in a VCA hospital within 8 hours of being admitted) and we were in no condition for two new cats but the alternative was my cat hating sister taking them to a kill shelter so off I went to get them. Andy has always been an Angel in perfect health but Lewis was a little harder to warm up to. He's mellowed over the years and is one of just four remaining cats from an original group of nine.
Last week both us and our vet thought he just had in ingrown claw but he was limping so much today I took him in again. There was an enormous red blob between his toes and the word cancer came from my vet, not me. Our vet does his own blood work and all his cell counts were normal so this might just be a cyst but he will be losing a toe and maybe two. Worst case scenario for now is an amputation below the knee and long term I don't want to think about. A vet ethically shouldn't speculate but he did say bone cancer, we'll have to wait for the biopsy. That and the surgery is next Tuesday.
I've been here a long time and would normally get a lot of well wishers for Lewis which I deeply appreciate. What I ask for instead is this. Check your basements for toxic crap like paint thinner etc., if you just have to have nasty chemicals around keep them locked up high in the garage, if your neighbor uses Roundup for a perfect lawn he needs a good beating. Cancer kills 32% of all cats, we've only had three die in 40+ years so that's dumb luck. We're all pulling for you Lewis and I've already ordered the finest narcotics money can buy. There's a real lack of compassion and denial of pain in modern medicine I find absurd. I'll keep you all posted without clogging up the forum. Lewis, Cynthia and I thank you for your thoughts.
 
I'm so sorry he is facing this. I hope whatever it is is localized and had not spread.

My cat Allie was just diagnosed with skin cancer. We see an oncologist on the 19th.
 
Lewis went in this morning. He's going to lose at least two toes and maybe a third, the other two will have to be declawed. What kills me is waiting five days for the oncology report. Hopefully it's just a benign cyst, at worst bone cancer.
Thank you Janet :bighug:
 
Veronica & Babu-chiri said:
I hope so I've heard of very good results with skin cancer treatment (not only Babu's) if it's not spread so fingers crossed
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My concern is I think it's in at least 2 spots... But only one was biopsied. I guess there's no use worrying until I hear more from the specialist.
 
JanetNJ said:
My concern is I think it's in at least 2 spots... But only one was biopsied. I guess there's no use worrying until I hear more from the specialist.
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Still hopefully it hasn't spread and I do remember from my consultations with the oncologist there are a lot of new treatments and options for this types of tumors even if they turn out malign, hopefully everything will turn out ok in any case let us know what the specialist tells you
 
Best wishes for Allie Janet.
Lewis will make out fine on the top floor. Just have to move a litter box and get a baby gate for the stairs. This is my newer vet who does his own bloodwork in 30 minutes. He owns the land and has been offered a buyout by VCA twice, told them to get bent. Is this normal to wait five days for an oncology report?
I know cats and dogs don't go into self pity mode if they lose a limb, they just deal with it. I'm hoping his life will be easier missing a front paw/leg than a back one.
You all have no idea what your replies mean to us, thanks very much. He won't be ready to come home until at least Thursday so we're both getting medicated and will be asleep all day tomorrow. Now it's poring rain, just friggin' perfect.
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
Is this normal to wait five days for an oncology report?
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As far as my experience goes yes I'm not sure what kind of culture or thing they do but yes it takes a few days.

Noah & me (GA) said:
I know cats and dogs don't go into self pity mode if they lose a limb, they just deal with it. I'm hoping his life will be easier missing a front paw/leg than a back one.
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I'm sure he will and maybe even feel better since it won't be hurting him all the time

Noah & me (GA) said:
Thursday so we're both getting medicated and will be asleep all day tomorrow. Now it's poring rain, just friggin' perfect.
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Hope you get a good rest and it seems that all over the continent after we survived the extremely warm season (kind of Babu and his siblings had to get shaved to cope with the temperature) now we are all going to drown
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
Best wishes for Allie Janet.
Lewis will make out fine on the top floor. Just have to move a litter box and get a baby gate for the stairs. This is my newer vet who does his own bloodwork in 30 minutes. He owns the land and has been offered a buyout by VCA twice, told them to get bent. Is this normal to wait five days for an oncology report?
I know cats and dogs don't go into self pity mode if they lose a limb, they just deal with it. I'm hoping his life will be easier missing a front paw/leg than a back one.
You all have no idea what your replies mean to us, thanks very much. He won't be ready to come home until at least Thursday so we're both getting medicated and will be asleep all day tomorrow. Now it's poring rain, just friggin' perfect.
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My oncology report took about that long as well.
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
Lewis will make out fine on the top floor. Just have to move a litter box and get a baby gate for the stairs. This is my newer vet who does his own bloodwork in 30 minutes. He owns the land and has been offered a buyout by VCA twice, told them to get bent. Is this normal to wait five days for an oncology report?
I know cats and dogs don't go into self pity mode if they lose a limb, they just deal with it. I'm hoping his life will be easier missing a front paw/leg than a back one.
You all have no idea what your replies mean to us, thanks very much. He won't be ready to come home until at least Thursday so we're both getting medicated and will be asleep all day tomorrow.
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That’s about how long I’ve had to wait for oncology reports as well (sometimes even longer, by the time the vet gets around to calling). At least here, the vet sends it in, so there’s shipping time, then the receiver has to process it into their system, examine, write the report, etc. All of which feels like an eternity. The exception is when I’ve gone to university veterinary hospitals, where they have the experts onsite and sometimes get answers faster.

We had a three-legged cat (front leg amputated) when I was a kid and she did great. They do tend to adapt quite well. I also know of a two-legged dog (retained one front and one back leg) who could still run and even jump on walls. Animals are simply amazing, aren’t they?

I also had a cat with an exceedingly rare form of skin cancer (veterinary dermatologist had only seen it one other time in 30 years).

I’m hoping for good news for you. Waiting is hard… I’ll be thinking of you and Cynthia.
 
Our vet is like most vets, clients will say "whatever it takes money wise" and then flip out over the cost of X-rays that saved the cat's life. I offered to drive the cell samples to the local vet college but if it's bone cancer those few days would have accomplished nothing. Hopefully it's just a benign cyst.
Cancer may be the leading cause of death in cats but in the last 30 years we've only lost three cats and no dogs to cancer. The rest just got old, I think anything less than 15 is abnormal. One dog had brutal dementia and our family of six cats all had cardiomyopathy. That was almost a blessing because there was nothing we could do and when their time came it was over in 24 hours and usually much less.
Lewis has spent two nights at our vet, thankfully we didn't have to take him to the butchers at VCA. He's been eating well and comes home late today. We have the typical over sized master bedroom and a huge ensuite bathroom so moving one litter box and getting a baby gate for the stairs is all we need unless he has to wear the cone of shame. He should be able to manage on two toes and his transdermal BUPE awaits him. It could have been a lot worse.
Lewis is just your typical "plain grey cat" but now I have to stop calling him DAD as in dime a dozen. Cynthia thinks he understands me but when Daniel pees on the sofa she calls him a little bastard. That would be our white sofa! At least it's not a floral print next to big heavy drapery and a collection of Franklin Mint plates. Then we'd be officially really old with a barking foo-foo dog, an astro-turf yard and my collection of Blu-Ray Lawrence Welk DVD's :blackeye:
 
JL and Chip said:
That’s about how long I’ve had to wait for oncology reports as well (sometimes even longer, by the time the vet gets around to calling). At least here, the vet sends it in, so there’s shipping time, then the receiver has to process it into their system, examine, write the report, etc. All of which feels like an eternity. The exception is when I’ve gone to university veterinary hospitals, where they have the experts onsite and sometimes get answers faster.

We had a three-legged cat (front leg amputated) when I was a kid and she did great. They do tend to adapt quite well. I also know of a two-legged dog (retained one front and one back leg) who could still run and even jump on walls. Animals are simply amazing, aren’t they?

I also had a cat with an exceedingly rare form of skin cancer (veterinary dermatologist had only seen it one other time in 30 years).

I’m hoping for good news for you. Waiting is hard… I’ll be thinking of you and Cynthia.
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Can you tell me how they treated the skin cancer?
 
JanetNJ said:
Can you tell me how they treated the skin cancer?
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What kind of skin cancer? What were the symptoms?

My experience was a long time ago, probably going on 15-20 years now, so it’s possible that a lot of treatment methods and meds have changed. My girl had Bowen’s disease, which I believe is squamous cell carcinoma. She had multiple bloody and scabby ulcerations, primarily between her toes, on her head and face, and around her ears. We saw an internal medicine specialist as well as a veterinary dermatologist. They initially diagnosed pemphigus but the biopsies showed Bowens, which surprised them. Not too many treatment options were offered at that time — it seems there wasn’t much they could do, so we settled on a ridiculously expensive human prescription cream called Aldara that helped knock down and heal the ulcers, but it was an ongoing battle and she was never completely clear of the ulcers and new ones would spring up regularly.

We did quite a few diagnostics when evaluating her, including chest X-rays, so see if we had any “show stoppers” (other potentially significant or terminal issues that might affect treatment decisions). I ended up losing her to what was likely lung cancer. In hindsight, I think the two were probably related and it’s my understanding that it’s not uncommon for SCC to metastasize between skin and lungs. I don’t really know which location was primary for my girl, but I thought at the time it was the skin.

She was a former stray/feral who had had a very sad and traumatic backstory and even after all the years I had her, she would wince when touched. I spent probably 1.5 hours a day gently dabbing the cream on her sores, but given the pain involved and her distaste for being touched, it was a challenge. She masked the lung involvement until the last few days; nearest we could guess, that part was likely aggressive and fast moving.

For anyone reading, please don’t take this as a forecast of how feline skin cancer will go. It was a long time ago and also a relatively rare form, or so I was told.
 
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I lost Monkey and Penpen to cancer :(. I also doubt if that my Mom apply too much worms prevention spray on them that cause them cancer, but this is something I can never know. So yes, it is vitally important to check if there is any cancer-inducing substance at home.
 
Hi Peter, it's nice to hear from you. Yes almost every home has the obvious things like moth balls, rat poison up on a high shelf or nasty things like a 5 year old can of paint thinner that's just dripping a bit every day. Your cat walks through that tiny puddle, licks it's paws and then it's liver and/or kidney failure. Most people don't even know that even onions and garlic are toxic to cats.
Right now and without a permit I can spray my entire lawn with Round-Up (a brand name in North America) to get rid of weeds so I can have a "perfect" lawn. We've already had two warnings from the city about the jungle in our tiny back yard. Dogs, cats, squirrels and raccoons walk through that, lick their paws and then die a slow and painful death. There are trace amounts of Round-Up in all the grain we eat here but the company has billions of dollars to fight you in court. Cats and dogs should all live to at least age 15 but we've already ruined the planet.
Lewis lost three toes and is already running up and down the stairs, we'll be getting his oncology report very soon.
 
JL and Chip said:
What kind of skin cancer? What were the symptoms?

My experience was a long time ago, probably going on 15-20 years now, so it’s possible that a lot of treatment methods and meds have changed. My girl had Bowen’s disease, which I believe is squamous cell carcinoma. She had multiple bloody and scabby ulcerations, primarily between her toes, on her head and face, and around her ears. We saw an internal medicine specialist as well as a veterinary dermatologist. They initially diagnosed pemphigus but the biopsies showed Bowens, which surprised them. Not too many treatment options were offered at that time — it seems there wasn’t much they could do, so we settled on a ridiculously expensive human prescription cream called Aldara that helped knock down and heal the ulcers, but it was an ongoing battle and she was never completely clear of the ulcers and new ones would spring up regularly.

We did quite a few diagnostics when evaluating her, including chest X-rays, so see if we had any “show stoppers” (other potentially significant or terminal issues that might affect treatment decisions). I ended up losing her to what was likely lung cancer. In hindsight, I think the two were probably related and it’s my understanding that it’s not uncommon for SCC to metastasize between skin and lungs. I don’t really know which location was primary for my girl, but I thought at the time it was the skin.

She was a former stray/feral who had had a very sad and traumatic backstory and even after all the years I had her, she would wince when touched. I spent probably 1.5 hours a day gently dabbing the cream on her sores, but given the pain involved and her distaste for being touched, it was a challenge. She masked the lung involvement until the last few days; nearest we could guess, that part was likely aggressive and fast moving.

For anyone reading, please don’t take this as a forecast of how feline skin cancer will go. It was a long time ago and also a relatively rare form, or so I was told.
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I am not sure exactly what kind other than carcinoma. She has a flaky thick patch on her hip, a small spot just below that, and possibly on her vulva but that wasn't tested. I'll let you know what the oncologist says this week. So far it doesn't seem like it's on any organs although she has bad ibd. :(. Poor baby
 
JL and Chip said:
t. They initially diagnosed pemphigus but the biopsies showed Bowens, which surprised them. Not too many treatment options were offered at that time — it seems there wasn’t much they could do, so we settled on a ridiculously expensive human prescription cream called Aldara that helped knock down and heal the ulcers, but it was an ongoing battle and she was never completely clear of the ulcers and new ones would spring up regularly.
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So this is what they said Allie has too. I'm going to use a GoodRx coupon and it looks like a box of Aldara will be about $16-20. Hopefully it helps her.
 
Still no news on Lewis's oncology report. He's in incredibly good spirits. Had a nice chat with an older gent today about his dog's last 4 day stay at the local VCA emergency clinic. He actually got it in writing in front of the supervisor, "do not try and pill the dog at night". At 2AM some tech almost lost a finger and animal control had to come. They tore a strip off the clinic wondering how stupid they could be and obviously sent the 12 year old dog home. Vicious dog my butt, he rolled over for me and had a nice butt sniff with Lewis. Just really incredibly stupid.
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
Still no news on Lewis's oncology report. He's in incredibly good spirits. Had a nice chat with an older gent today about his dog's last 4 day stay at the local VCA emergency clinic. He actually got it in writing in front of the supervisor, "do not try and pill the dog at night". At 2AM some tech almost lost a finger and animal control had to come. They tore a strip off the clinic wondering how stupid they could be and obviously sent the 12 year old dog home. Vicious dog my butt, he rolled over for me and had a nice butt sniff with Lewis. Just really incredibly stupid.
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I keep wondering why vet, vet techs, nurses etc don't listen to the pet parents when we say we know them , we've been with them a whole bunch of years after all , and warn them on what they are trying or suggesting or what they should not do
 
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