I tend to agree with you to try to stick to the least invasive options first... and then proceed from there.

I would try the warm compresses... it may just be an infected pimple or cyst (near the eye?). The warmth could help break it up.

How deep is it? Is this nodule between the skin and muscle, or under the muscle. It might be hard to tell on the head? If a small slit in the skin could remove it, then the surgery is not that big of a deal (of course I'm not sure why aspiration would be a big deal either, unless it was deep?)

I meant to edit when I accidently hit submit...

if its real hard, and stone like, the Vet may thinK its solid and would be difficult to get a needle aspiration. They can pull solid out, but its harder and more painful. If its real small and close to the surface of the skin, she's probably thinking it would be easier to slice it out than try to aspirate it.

Ask, Ask, Ask... have a "conversation" with your vet... if you can't ask questions and get a reasonable explanation, then you do need a different vet.

Thanks for your quick response, Joepyeweed. Much appreciated.
It is not a hard, hard mass, just firm, and you can move it. It is subcuteneous- just under skin, not very deep-no sign of lesion on skin. Again, vet says that aspiring cells for analysis might cause bad (if actually bad) cells to spread --I guess from disturbing them?.. It is not because it would be hard to do.
Oh YES, I do intend to ask LOTS of questions. This vet seems the type of vet who would welcome an open discussion. This cat has had a very slight heart murmur for a year now, so, there is no way I'm going to rush into surgery.
Thanks again.

Anne-Marie

My 9 year old cat has three such masses. One is on his lip and it has been there for nearly 8 years. It has never changed size or shape. A couple of years ago he developed another small one on the upper lip which has also not changed size or shape over two years. A third, very small one, is on his ear. My vet has recommended surgery to remove all three, but I've decided not to do it because none of these seem to be growing or changing. If they do, I'll reconsider.

There is no way in hell short of a power saw or jackhammer that anyone, especially a vet, could possibly accidently go through the skull and hit the brain of a cat while removing a subcutaneous mass. And of course the cat will be under general anesthesia, so there will be no way to accidently hit the eye either. Really, this is not a concern at all. I would be more worried about general anesthesia than the removal itself, in an older cat. Because of that, I would require a CBC, chemistry profile, urinalysis, and T4 prior to anesthesia. I would also require an IV catheter and make sure the hospital uses best anesthesia practices with pulse ox, blood pressure, and temperature monitoring.

Some masses can be major problems if they are aspirated. Mast call tumors can cause anaphylaxis or gastric ulcer if aspirated. Transitional cell carcinomas can be spread wherever the needle goes. Since the mass is so close to the eye, I wouldn't do it without the cat being heavily sedated or anesthetized, and at that point why not take it out? There is no reason to subject the cat to 2 anesthetic or sedation events- do it all once and get it over with. I would send the mass out for biopsy and evaluation of surgical margins. That way you know if the mass was completely excised and exactly what the mass was. Hopefully complete excision would be curative and you won't have to worry about it ever again.

Marita, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Are these masses also moveable? Will have to keep checking it to see if there is any change in the next 2 weeks. Will probably take her in before for a complete bloodwork (she had one last November) so she'll be all set to go ... in case..

Meghane,
I was very much taken back by the first part of your reply. Belittling my worries in such a way is certainly not going to do anything towards reassuring me (I am sure you would never say that to any of your patients!). We lost 2 of our cats 5 months of each other when we first moved up here, after a terrible ordeal, one just a year ago tomorrow--and they were both healthy. I am now more of a nervous wreck than my cats whenever I have to take them to the vet's.. She is the only 'survivor' (as I call her) from our old place. Of course, if I had a power saw myself, I might try to remove it.. bad joke! I hope you just had a bad day at work... I can't take sarcasm when my cats' health is at risk.
If I am worried about the location, it is because I can't help thinking that some tissues, nerves.. could be damaged in the process. Why take a chance if my cat can be OK with it?
Anyway, the second part of your answer is exactly what my new vet said. What I was really asking, I guess, is if anyone had had a similar situation, and if that 'mass' is likely cancerous and bound to spread. Certainly I understand that every cat is different, and there is no telling for sure. Have a nice weekend,

Anne-Marie

I am so sorry about that- I was trying to convey how hard it would be to injure her in a humorous way to help you feel better about the situation (completely failed there), not to belittle your worries in any way. I understand your concerns about removing the mass at all. It seems to not be bothering her so why risk anything, right? It's not possible to tell if the mass is cancer without either aspirating or biopsy, but of course they carry risks too. If it *is* cancer and it gets larger, it will be more difficult to remove the whole thing with clean surgical margins- there isn't much loose skin on the face to close the wound once the mass is out. The other risk is that if grows behind the eye, she could lose the eye. Worse case scenario would be a highly aggressive tumor that followed optic nerve back into the brain, but I've only seen that a couple of times in the last 14 years and the original mass was always "angry" looking. It just had a look of cancer, not just a bump. Doesn't sound like what you are seeing/feeling.

Again I apologize for making you feel bad. That wasn't the goal.

Hi Anne Marie. It's so scarey when we find lumps and bumps on our friends, isn't it? Dogs are different than cats, but my old dog use to have lipomas pop up all over her body. The funniest thing about them was that once they appeared, they were full sized and never grew more. Even a couple of huge ones she had... we never saw them growing! As many as she had, each new one that popped up would make my heart stop and worry me for the better part of a month as we waited to see if it was going to change rapidly.

I'm kind of a wait and watch mentality. My Gus cat use to get pea to marble sized bumps under his chin from time to time. They were little abscesses, but since they were very full, they felt very hard. They would go away in time. My feeling on the matter is (as long as kitty is acting normal) do the hot compresses, watch and wait. You will know soon enough if it changes and you need to consider taking a closer look at it. If you wait and it doesn't seem to do anything, but the thought of it is bothering you, then you can also take action.

That's just how I would approach it- day at a time.

Thank you, quasifish for your response. Yes, for the time being, I'll just adopt your 'wait and watch mentality'--still taking her in for bloodwork soon, just in case.

Meghane, I am sorry I misread your original intentions --do not remember this 'humorous' tone in the many 'cat' posts I have read from you. All behind. Blame it on my 'panic'. I appreciate your going into the different scenarios, even the worst case. It all makes sense. I will certainly not wait if this 'mass' starts growing. No change since I first felt it, 10 days ago. Thanks again,

Anne-Marie

Hi anne marie, sorry to hear about your baby : )

I went through the same thing with my guy about a year ago. He had a small lump which I (and the tooth doc) suspected was a fatty lipoma. But it was troubling, in the vaccination region on his shoulder (my mother lost three cats to fibrocarsinoma at injection sites), and other opinions were it *could* be cancer. Wait and watch was an option with my regular vet. At the time, I thought the best thing to do was just take it off right away (surgery was unsuccessful with my mother's cats as it wasn't removed with clear margins). The cancer surgeon saw him and thought 95% chance it was cancer.

So, off it came. He was 12 at the time. He was very healthy and asymptomatic of any problems other than allergy issues he's had all his life. He has never been the same since that operation though and I feel so bad about putting him through that. I didn't want to wait, though, as early detection is key. It was, in fact, a fatty lipoma. There were further complications, though. A small part of the incision failed to heal (costing another $2K with the dermatologist even though over those few months it healed through only one course of different antibiotics and use of another salve). He lost two pounds and seems unable to gain it back. He also seems to have been traumatized by the whole thing (horrible massive surgical incision and two weeks in a cage). As soon as he was let out, he jumped up and curled up on my shoulder and has been stuck there ever since. He wants to be held all the time now (sweet problem, but it saddens me what he might have felt or be feeling). Otherwise, he seems pretty happy and healthy though. I do feel it has actually taken time off his life though. He seems old now rather than the ever-youthful guy he was before.

If you get to the point of removing it, I would go to a specialist who is a very experienced and skilled cancer surgeon rather than a GP. You might contact a University hospital or local oncologist to see who they use (which is what I did). As in people, the skill of the surgeon is critical to success. I wanted someone who knew cancer intimately and as the devil that it is.

Another thing. My other kitty was terribly sick at the same time with heart and kidneys failing. One thing that has really come to light with these two is how delicate cats are to stress. I would never have thought so with these two, but all the visits, prodding, and invasive treatments really showed up in their physical health and seemed to accelerate it all. They are very tough decisions to make, especially for a layperson.

Best of luck with your kitty. I would definitely get another opinion, even if that's three. Maybe a specialist next time. Dermatologist? Eye doctor? Oncologist? They may have seen this before or have suggestions on ointments, compresses, or whatever else, to try before getting invasive.

Best of luck with you two : ) Hope it clears up real soon and makes it easy for you. (Try googling online too for images that may look like your kid's eye.)

Squirrelheaven
Quite an ordeal you (and your mother) went through with your cats! I'm very sorry your cat with the 'fatty lipoma' has never been the same since surgery. I really appreciate your sharing all this with me. Such difficult decisions to make, for a layperson, as you said!

I just researched fatty lipomas, and read they were rare in cats, although the description itself corresponds to what I feel. There is absolutely nothing to see, as it is all under skin.

At this point, going to a specialist is not an option. Long distance, and bad experience with the cat we lost just exactly a year ago. Felt like a huge, noisy place where we were very rushed. Nothing good came of it. Plus the traveling was very stressful on that cat. We are far from any university hospital/oncologists.

I may be wrong (have been wrong before about vets), but this new vet seems very caring and open to conversation and explanations. Because of location, I would not want to wait until this 'bump' gets any bigger, if it does grow at all. Early detection is obviously key, but I don't want to rush into anything. So right now, all I can do is wait and monitor. I will have all her blood work done just in case.

Again, thank you very much for your personal, honest input. Give your brave, old buddy a big hug from us,
Anne-Marie

I think I read that, too, about the fatty lipomas being rare in cats. They seem real common on my cats! I'm up to #11 of my own cats over the years now. The location of yours wouldn't be a fatty lump though.

The surgeon for my guy was looking for signs of it being hard in terms of cancer. They get all sorts of benign things though just like people.

I'd hesitate on doing a preliminary aspiration, too, as invasive procedures can let cancer cells 'escape' if that's what it is. They also aren't so accurate, depending on the location of the draw. One of my cats had an endoscopy done for a lung aspiration and it came up negative. Turned out he was riddled with cancer and what was thought to be asthma on the xray was actually cancer. Top radiologist too.

It's always extremely overwhelming and full of conflicting forces!

Took 5 yr old healthy active cat to vet for routine shots.the felt a league mass in stomach.said she needed surgery.Took out mass and a little of intestines.Said they got it all.No results fm biopsy till a wk.Next morning said she was in need of blood transfusion.Her bp was down and fluid around intestines.Slight fever.Gave her transfusion yesterday afternoon.Now this am they said she needs another because her bp is dropping again?she got up herself went potty laid back down.Not eating yet.So far 3000 for surgery 800 for 1 st transfusion.am running out of money and wondering since the 1st transfusion didn't help what are the chances a 2 nd would?again verybhealthy active cat till surgery 2 dys ago?Please advise asap . they want to do 2 nd transfusion today .thank u

Thats a hard one If it was my cat and I could afford too. I would let them try 1 more transfusion. She must of lost alot of blood during the surgery. or she is bleeding internally. have they ruled out active bleeding internally? Hope all turns out ok for your cat.
As you still do not not if the mass is/was cancer which is common in cats I would alos have to factor in the what if its cancer and will it spread a few months down the road?

Don't base your decisions on the cost (I know that's hard to understand right now, but later you will.) Base her healthcare on what is likely to help her comfort and her probability of surviving. You need to have a good talk with your vet about this to understand what is going on. I hope she is ok.