1/12 Little Kitten, "mast cell tumor"

Hello All,

I am Rick, normally posting on lantus land for Slashy, my diabetic Mainecoon however I have another sick friend.. Little Kitten, 11 years old was diagnosted with mast cell tumor today via biopsies. Has anyone had any experience with this? Just started googling it now.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Rick

 

I haven't had any experience with this but I hope several others will come along to give you their experiences.

Hugs to Little Kitten

 

Thanks for the hugs!

 

Hi Rick-

My kittie, Thomas, had mast cell tumors...he had them for about 6-7 years? He did have multiple surgeries to remove them, and he also had a few lipomas removed at the same time. He eventually went on a very low dose of prednisone, (1/4 tab every 3 days? Can't recall exactly the dose now) which seemed to slow their frequency. But...the caveat is/was that we never really knew if this might have tipped the scales and caused his diabetes? Will never know...but the regular appearance of the mast cells definitely slowed down. My vet was concerned that too many surgeries per year (about 2-4) was too much, so wanted to try this. He overall tolerated these very well..he was an amazing trooper, and in the midst of having this mast cell syndrome plus a kidney tumor managed to still go OTJ in may of 08. Sadly I lost him to the tumor in Jan of 09...a year ago yesterday, to be exact.

If you have any questions I might not have addressed, please let me know. I've kind of forgotten alot of things, since the diabetes and tumor took precedence over the mast cells after awhile. His would appear as small little fleshy bumps, anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1/16 of an inch...flat and/or a more pronounced lump...and sometimes would present as a red 'rash'. Typically the lumps would appear hairless. For Thomas, this was a fairly benign condition compared to his others issues.

Good luck with Little Kitten (kind of cute name for a Main Coon cat, which are typically big kitties?

 

If they a just on the skin there should be no problem if they are removed. My Mitten had one or two removed during a dental years ago. My civi Izzebelle had three removed on separate occasions.

 

Are these mast cell tumours internal or on the skin? I believe you had mentioned that IBD was suspected in Little Kitten, so I think that you may be referring to an intestinal or other internal MCT? I have experience with a dermal one in my civie, but not with systemic ones.

 

Hello...thank you all! She is not presenting on the skin at all. Yes, intestinal, on lymph node. Vet suspected lymphoma or IBD. Biopsies returned today and diagnosis is mast cell. She has a VERY enlarged lymph node in her abdomen. Lost alot of weight, lots of vomiting. She is on a feeding tube now and is home, seems comfortable, just very weak.

 

thank you.. to be clear, Slashy is the diabetic Mainecoon, which is what brought me to this website (cardiomyopic and pancreatits as well, if you can imagine) Little Kitten would be Slashy's younger sister

 

Veterinary Partner

Near the bottom, they discuss mast cell tumors in cats.