Found a Lump on My Cat

We have a semi-socialized feral cat that shares our home with us. She is not what you would call affectionate. She spends her time being stand-offish but at night when my husband is asleep she will come and sleep on his head and he can hear her purring.

Daisy on my husband's pillow

We trapped this cat when she was 4 months old. We felt we needed to because a neighbors dog had killed all of her litter mates and thought she would be next. As a rule, when feral cats come into a home and are socialized they tend to overeat. Our cat is now older and overweight and due to this, she has developed a lump.

We found the lump yesterday when my husband held her down and I examined her fat belly. The lump is solid and the size of a Kiwi. It could be a fatty tumor called lipomas. This tumor will show up anywhere on a cat and even though they are not cancerous they do not need to be removed unless they hinder the cat from getting around, or make the cat feel uncomfortable.

As a rule, this type of fatty tumor is common in overweight older cats. I made an appointment at the veterinarians because I need to know what this lump is. My veterinarian will do a wellness checkup and may do a biopsy with a needle to get a sample to test fluid inside the lump for cancer.

I think it is a good idea to examine your older cat once a month for lumps and bumps and if you find them to take your cat to the veterinarians. Best to get your cat a checked to know if the bumps are cancer or not.

Learn more about cat lumps or bumps by viewing this video.

Sudden Illness Takes The Life of Rescued Cat

Three months ago I took my 21 year old cat in for their 6 month checkup at the veterinarians.  They did the wellness exam, checked his blood and his urine, also checked his blood pressure and I was told he was in great health and that he could live 5 to 10 more years.  

My cat was a rescue after he had been put out at age 16.  He liked spending the day in the garden and I took him in at night. I asked the veternarian if the time in the garden was okay, she said yes that he would be depressed if I took him in full time.  So he got vaccinated and his annual feline leukemia vaccine. 

Brought Skippy home and everything was fine until last Tuesday when he deiced to eat very little and drink less.  Which was not normal for this cat that ate like he had hallow legs.  I called and made an appointment at my veternarian, told them something is wrong.   That night Skippy continued to decline although he did sleep on the chair next to my bed.  But by morning he was very week and was having difficulty walking.  

I picked him up and rushed him to the veterinarians office where they told me he had fluid in his lungs, was too old for treatment and this sudden illness was brought on from Feline Leukemia  FeLV that advanced into cancer.

The diagnosis put me in shock, because three months prior my cat was tested and it was negative, then he got the vaccine.  I never saw a bite wound, and yet the veternarian said he was infected and due to his age and weakened immune system my cat got cancer.

Then I was told that just like the human flu shot the FeLV shot is not 100% that if I wanted to keep my cat healthy I should have kept him indoors. Let me tell you I am still in shock over the death of my cat and feeling great sadness.

Ref: http://www.bubblews.com/news/9966138-21-year-old-cat-goes-to-rainbow-bridge a post by Sgolis

Rescue Cats Diagnosed with Cancer:

Out of the 89 cats and kittens that we have rescued and then adopted or placed in a cat colony only two cats were diagnosed with cancer and had to be euthanized last week.   Both cats were my housecats;  one was a rescue from an abandonment and the other was a socialized feral cat. Needless to say my heart is broken.

My rescue cat Gracie: photo captured six months before she got Cancer.
 Her form of cancer came on quickly and she needed to be put down.

The attending veternarian told me that 99% of cats today develop some form of cancer and he also noted that a feral cats life expectancy is two years, an indoor /outdoor cat seven years and a housecat was 17 years.  I guess he was trying to say that my two cats were lucky to have been rescued by me, but it did not make me feel better.

For the last several years I have been feeding all cats holistic food with no soy, corn or grains and giving them bottle water.  I kept my cats indoors to prevent them being exposed to pesticides, but everything that I did was vain because in the end my two cats had cancer.  I keep asking the same question over and over again: