Surgery

[Ben&Jodie_Misty]

How big should an incision be to remove 1.5 centimeter cyst from cats back? Just below skin with no complications and not being sent off to lab. Cyst was slow growing and you could locate it easily by touch. The incision was about 12 centimeters in length. This seemed overkill for such a small cyst

Does anyone have any recommendations for a vet in the Fox River Grove, Illinous area?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

It seems a little long. However, to suture the skin without puckering the incision has to be a lot longer that the cyst.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Did you ask the vet about it? When they incise a lump they want to get good margins around it to make sure they got it all, so a 1.5 cm lump may need 3 or 4cm taken from around it. Even though it was slow growing, the fact that it's not being sent off for tissue study may have been a factor, to make sure they got it all.

 

[Ben&Jodie_Misty]

Thank you for your replies. It was just a plain cyst removal. No cancer or margins to worry about. We asked him and we did not get a good answer. My husband is an MD and states that no medical doctor would ever cut such a big incision to remove a benign cyst. We were thinking it shouldn't be any different in the animal world.