I just wrote a long post about my experience with my girl, Somer, who I lost to mammary cancer a year and a half ago, but I hit the wrong key, and my post disappeared. I'm just not up to typing (or reliving) it all again right now, so I'll offer this critical advice. The Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University offers free telephone consults with a veterinary oncologist. I strongly urge you to take advantage of this service and schedule a telephone consult with them to discuss your girl's case.

I wish I had done that BEFORE Somer's lumpectomy. If I had, I would have known to insist on several different angles of x-rays to check for metastasis in her lungs before her surgery. As it was, the surgeon took only one x-ray angle, and that was at my insistence. Then he barely glanced at the x-ray before surgery. When I had my telephone consult with CSU after Somer's surgery, the oncologist told me that they typically take x-rays from three different angles to check for lung metastasis before any mammary cancer surgery, because if the cancer has spread to the lungs, mammary surgery won't provide enough benefit to be worth the pain to the cat.

I wish you and your cat the best possible outcome.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: CSU Animal Cancer Center

How old is your cat? Age would be a factor for me in making the decision.

I don't know if our cat's oncology vet does phone consults or not (she's in Yonkers, NY, at the Animal Specialty Center; Dr. Susan Ettinger) if you want yet another opinion after contacting the oncology vet at CSU.

Our cat was treated at ASC for nasal lymphoma. She had a CT-scan, an abdominal U/S (to determine if the cancer had metastized), and might have had blood work done as well, in order to determine if she was a candidate for Cyberknife radiation before they did the treatments. (After she had her Cyberknife treatments, three in all, over the course of three consecutive days she received chemo for 6 months)