Princess Conquers Her Tumor

PRINCESS

This is Princess. This darling feline was presented to our VDS Reno office a year ago for a large tumor on her maxillary left.

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A Princess Story

To address Princess’ tumor, a surgical biopsy and minor debulking were performed last year.  Aggressive surgical management was not considered based on the high likelihood of squamous cell carcinoma, which is incurable in cats in later stages.

The biopsy results returned as a mesenchymal cell tumor. Further surgery and radiation therapy were considered but the owner elected to monitor as neither option provided a good prognosis for quality of life.

Recheck

Amazingly, the tumor slowly grew, and this is what it looks like an entire year from the original surgery. Only very recently had it started to negatively affect her ability to eat. So, the client returned for recheck.

Surgery

Based on the fact that it grew very slowly surgical debulking was a good alternative as complete excision would require removal of her eye.

Princess was placed under anesthesia and a complete oral exam was performed. This revealed that the tumor was extending into her mouth, and she was actually biting on it.  Thus, as part of the surgery, the large chewing tooth on top (carnassial) was extracted.  Dental radiographs confirmed the significant bone involvement.

The surgery was extensive with a large amount of tissue removed. But after a couple rough days, she rounded back into form.

 

1 Month Later

This is Princess at one-month recheck looking well, like a princess.