feline oral cancer – Margaret's Corner

Peekaboo, my 11-year-old cat, is such a star. Our amazing little star…And yes, in case you’re wondering, all of these photos are recent, post-surgery photos. Obviously, her right side looks better than her left, as you can see…But once her fur grows back, she’ll be as good as new (not that that’s the most important thing, of course!).

Here’s the most important thing:

Our vet just called to let us know that the final results of Peekaboo’s mandibulectomy (half of her lower left jaw was removed) show CLEAR MARGINS.

In other words, no cancer cells were found in the outer portion of her jaw, the portion that was removed. Had that happened, if even a few cancer cells had been found, it would not have been good news at all…

I have to confess that I got all choked up on the phone and could barely speak to the vet. Tears of happiness.

This has been such an emotional journey for Stefano and me. Just a few weeks ago, when this awful cancer was found in her mouth, by chance!, we didn’t know what to do: should we agree to the surgery? Is surgery the right decision for Peekaboo? What about her quality of life afterwards? Would she be able to eat without half her lower left jaw? We had so many questions…and so few answers.

But in the end, based on her test results, specifically her second CAT (hah) scan, we agreed to go ahead with the surgery. And now I’m so glad we did…

And yes, she is eating on her own again, eating like a horse, as you can see…

This final biopsy result doesn’t mean that Peekaboo will never have a recurrence of this beastly cancer…

But we’re not thinking about that now…

We’re celebrating today’s victory…

And she’s back to chasing her video mice again…

I took our cat, Peekaboo, to the vet two days ago, around lunchtime. When her new CAT scan results came in, my vet told me that, even though the melanoma had spread a bit in the past two weeks, the cancer hadn’t gone into the jawbone yet. She recommended that we do the surgery.

After asking a few obvious but almost-impossible-to-answer questions (will the surgery PROLONG HER LIFE without impacting her QUALITY OF LIFE, blablabla), I called Stefano, and we both agreed it was our only choice at this point, even though there really aren’t any guarantees: this sort of cancer is very aggressive, so it may come back at some point…

But if we’d waited until, say, September, it would have been too late to do anything. And by then she would been suffering a lot…bleeding from her mouth, etc. I’ve seen the photos online…It’s nasty.

We had to try removing the blasted thing…

In a nutshell: the surgery went well. No complications. Now we just have to wait until she’s well enough to come home. That will happen once she begins eating on her own, which is going to take a few more days…

Yesterday Stefano and I went to see her twice, at lunchtime and just before dinner. I braced myself, expecting her to look like a little Frankenstein, but no, she actually looks the same (see photo). Not that we care what she looks like, of course! As long as she’s okay…

She’s not a happy camper, as perhaps you can tell from the photo. She’s NOT in any pain, of course, but I think the Elizabethan collar is driving her bonkers. Plus, the painkiller/sedative is making her live in a world of her own. I don’t know how much she even knew that we were there…

My job is to get her to eat on her own again. So at one point I put some mushy food on my finger and offered it to her. She turned her head, growling (growling? My Peekaboo???), got up and moved away. Who can blame her? Poor sweetie. I didn’t insist. I’ll try again today. As soon as she begins eating on her own, we can bring her home, where she will be happier and recover more quickly, for sure.

I just hope the vet surgeon was able to get all of that blasted thing, that no cells escaped, and that there will be no recurrences…

One day at a time.