I never did post here about my 5yr old calico, Callie, having developed a tumor that was caused by the "old style" rabies shot. Anyway, I first noticed it about 3.5 weeks ago. Took her to the vet twice before her surgery yesterday. I thought I would post pictures of her. I was surprised they had to make such a large incision, even though the tumor itself was a decent size. She was NOT happy yesterday at all when she came home. My dad said she was "pissed at god", she was so mad.

my other cat, Sasha, had surgery yesterday, too - she got fixed.

Anyway, pictures of Callie..I'm going to take more of her because I wasn't able to get too close to her at all yesterday -lol- to get good pictures.

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She's 16lbs. and that incision is, I guess, around 8-9 inches long. The tumor was about 3" in diameter, I think. I'm not sure of the specific measurement of it.

Jeez, thats awful. I hope the vet got good margins. Make sure you keep a VERY close eye on that spot from now on, because those tumors often reoccur and can be fatal (they metasticize VERY quickly). I seriously wouldn't be laughing if my cat had a fibrosarcoma!!

ETA: You should make sure your cat gets all her vaccines in her lower legs from now on, and different legs, and the vet keeps track of which leg they're going in. Vets do this so they can just amputate if the cat gets a fibrosarcoma. (Yes, they're THAT bad)

Yes, they really are nasty little buggers.

One of my cats, Tuffy, had a lump after one of his vaccines. When I felt it, I flipped out. My vet did a FNA (fine needle aspirate) and luckily, it wasn't a fibrosarcoma. Turns out, the vet who had given the vaccine (not my normal vet, and she no longer works there, thank god!) injected it into the wrong area. That's what caused the lump. It receded after a month, during which I must have checked the damn thing every hour to make sure it wasn't growing! I don't think I've ever been so scared.

I hope your cat makes a speedy recovery.

Are these tumors a risk with all vaccines, or just rabies and leukemia shots? My vet did my cats' initial kitten series shots on their backs or somewhere...not their lower legs.

Tumor risk is with the rabies and leukemia.

Rabies not so much now as long as the docs are using PureVax, which most of them are

Yeah, my vet said that it was pretty much due to the older style rabies shot. Hers was in her hip area on the right so they're going to have to give her the shots in different spots now. They don't think the newer vaccine wil lcause this problem.

I'm just hoping the tumor doesn't come back. There's an 80% chance that it will. If it does come back, I'm just going to have to deal with it as long as possible because I don't want to keep having to put her through surgery but I also don't want the damn thing to get so big every time that it causes trouble for her. Bleh.

Ok. A little update.

She healed fine from the surgery. Tumor has come back. It's very big now. I opted to not have another surgery done on her because it's a really hard thing on her and the vets are saying it will jsut keep coming back and it's not fair to her.

Rewind to last week - she developed a bald spot on part of the tumor from excessive licking. A few days later, the area above the tumor was very soft, like fluid was forming. Friday afternoon, she had an open wound due to her licking/annoying the area and the area burst. Took her to the vet and he cleaned it up and got just about all of the fluid out. He said it ulcerated and when it does this it becomes very problematic. Perscribed some Neo-Predef with Tetracaine Powder that I'm supposed to put on her whenever the spot is looking bad.

He said she wouldn't want to lick it and that the stuff would numb the area some and also provide some antibiotic relief, also has a steroid in it.

Well, she has no problem licking the stuff! I can't keep her from licking it off and even when there's nothing on the wound, she licks and licks at it which just further irritates it. So, I'm taking her back to the vet tomorrow. -sigh- I don't know what he'll suggest doing next.

I tried to get some pictures of it so I could get some suggestions from here, but none of them came out. I'll try that again tomorrow.

Poor kitty. I'm sorry that I don't have any advice or anything more helpful to add but an I'm sorry, jenna.

I know it must be hard for you.

:hug: I'm so sorry. :( :(

She is a beautiful cat!

Are these tumors a risk with all vaccines, or just rabies and leukemia shots? My vet did my cats' initial kitten series shots on their backs or somewhere...not their lower legs.

Some vets refer to them as injection site sarcoma, since they have been associated with other types of injections as well. A retropspective study was done by pathology lab where they requested patient history for any feline fiborsarcoma they identified. The results showed there was no correlation between type of vaccine and the formation of the cancer and was also found to occur with long acting penicillian and a steroid injection. It is still not well understood how or why exactly they occur, but there may be some predisposing factors involved, possibly even genetic. Currently the best advice is to minimize the number of vaccines given and administer in the legs so the part can be amputated should the tumor occur.

I'm sorry that your cat has to go through this. I would have your cat wear an e-collar so the surgery site has time to heal.

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taken earlier tonight. it's gotten worse since a day or two ago.

she's going back to the vet in the morning. :-/

Poor Kity, I hope they sent her home on some good kitty drugs. I'm so sorry. She'll be better once it is said and done. Thank you for being a responsible owner and taking care of your cats medical needs.

I would take your cat in, she could have ruptured her incisions or it could be anything. Has she been licking the area alot? If so, it could be caused from that . I would take her especially with her history. Good Luck

well, she healed up completely from her surgery. it's just that the tumor has come back a second time. it ulcerated and burst. that's what it is now.

Rather than an e-collar, look into these: http://www.bitenot.com/

Much more comfortable for the poor kitty. I hope that she gets better. I love cats.

When I was younger I had two rottweilers that died a few hours after getting their old fashioned rabies shots. ;/

my mom refuses to let any of our dogs get that shot now.

im very sorry about your cat, i hope she gets better.

Ok. Another update.

Since the last pictures I showed, the ulcer from the cancer tumor got really -really- big and was stinking really bad from the infection, to the point it was making us ill.

We took her back in because the powder and the other stuff we were using on her wasn't working. They kept her overnight to put this really killer salve stuff on her and bandage it up. The tumor got hard and got a bit better. That was on Friday. They gave us this organic herbal salve to put on her spot 2-3 times a day and we're taking her back this Friday. He said we'd know by then if the stuff was working. It seems to be shrinking it a little bit.

I took these pictures last night. You can see the salve stuff all over it.

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I'm hoping with the continued use of the salve that the damn thing will just fall off, the skin will heal up and the cancer won't ever come back again.

ETA: She's also lost 2-3 pounds since the last pictures. She was about 16-17 lbs. last time.

Also, I have her (and all the other cats) on a raw food kibble which the vet was really pleased with. So, I'm sure having her on that food is helping out with the healing.

:( Poor kitty. She looked really unhappy. I really hope she gets better. :sunny:

So, everyone remembers Callie looking like this http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN7300.jpg It turned into a toad stool looking thing after a while.

Yesterday, she went to the vet and they pulled that toad stool thing off and it looked like this after http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/04172006.jpg

Then they put that "killer salve", as my vet liked to refer to it, on her and doing two treatments of that and had to bandage her up tight. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN7315.jpg I'm getting ready to go and cut the bandage off of her and see how it's looking. I'll get more pictures, of course. I'm kinda nervous about cutting the bandage off, but I think i'll be fine.

The vet was actually really happy with how it was looking yesterday. It'll be easier now, too, to put the herbal salve on her with that "toad stool" gone. It was so bizarre.

Oh Jenna :/ Your poor kitty. That looks so sore! I hope it heals up..

It looks a lot like a.. "thing" that grew on my dog after he got his shots one year. We had it removed and he never went back for shots again (luckily it never came back).

It's sad when owners are forced to choose between the risk of the vaccine and the risk of the disease they might get if not vaccinated :(

So jenna, it's been almost three months since you last posted an update. How is Callie doing?

ah, she's not doing well. it actually seemed like it was getting better after the last treatment of that "killer salve". the spot below the open wound had some really small tumors that had branched off from the main section. those have gotten really big now. part of it opened up, the rest is really soft. it'll probably "burst" and open up.

she's due to go to the vet on the 11th. he may try a brand new thing on her. supposed to be an injection that helps shrink the tumor. but, like all of this other stuff, it's all new. so they don't really know how it'll go.

i'll get pictures later.

:( I'm sorry about all that. :hug: Poor Callie. Sending lots of hugs her way. :hug: :hug:

Oh man, I just read this whole thing. Poor Kitty! it must be so uncomfortable for her.

I hope this new treatment works. keep us updated. :hug:

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