Tongue Cancer (Squamous Cell Carcinoma ) Any experiences please?

[Partyfops]

DCat has been poorly so we took her to see the vet yesterday and she thinks she probably has Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

She is 15 so there is no way I would put her through radiotherapy or surgery. I'm also reluctant to even put her through the biopsy and blood tests etc.

My gut feeling is to speak to vet about paliative care and before she suffers arrange for the vet to come to our home and do what needs to be done with minimal upset.

Does anyone have any experience of this please and know about any time scales we could be looking at?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Squamous cell carcinoma and stomal hyperplasia ( gum proliferation and swelling) look virtually identical. Stomal hyperplasia can be controlled and she could have many years. Squamous cell carcinoma is very, very aggressive.

[Partyfops]

Thank you. If it was Stomal Hyperplasia and we left her for a while with some metacam to keep her comfortable what do you think would happen?

The vet thinks that if it is Squamous Cell that its quite advanced as its quite big and has put her tongue off centre and making her dribble. It seems to have come on very quickly indeed.

[Toddlerteaplease]

The rescue I got my cats from had had two of their cats with mouth cancer recently. Both became very ill within a couple of days. But both presented with breathing issues. But it was actually cancer. They both had to be PTS straight away. 😰

[Partyfops]

Blimey!! We are keeping a close eye on her and spoiling her rotten. She can eat at the moment.

Will speak to the vet again in the morning.

[AnyFucker]

I would do the humane thing and PTS

We were talked into trying further tests and treatment (hundreds of pounds worth...) and the poor creature suffered. Never again.

[Partyfops]

I'm desperate for her not to suffer in any way poor thing.

[Partyfops]

We will PTS l, but at the moment she seems OK, she is just drooling occasionally and her tongue is off centre.

[timtam23]

If it's tongue cancer, they tend to be very aggressive & progress rapidly - my cat was put to sleep about 3 weeks after diagnosis (18 yr old cat) - even the vet was shocked by how fast it progressed. We did get some initial palliative symptom control by using steroid tablets but when he began to have real difficulty eating even watered-down food we made the decision to take him back to the vet to be PTS. We made a big fuss of him first & let him eat whatever he wanted (baked bean sauce was a favourite)

[Cailleach1]

Aww, sorry about your girl. It is horrible for such a rapid ebbing away.

My old boy had a mouth cancer. It was only discovered after he had lost loads of weight and they did every blood test under the sun after steroid courses and repeat visits. As he was loathe to actually eat, I insisted they put him under and look at his mouth properly as he dribbled and was tender. Finally, he only managed mashed food and milk. I would be very proactive about this if another cat of mine ever had mouth tenderness.

The steroids helped, but I knew I was only prolonging everything. The vets surgery also had tins of a special high energy pureed food which they can lick. Forget the name, but it is good.

You are doing the right thing bringing the vet to your home. I went to the early morning surgery and regret the extra stress surrounding his being pts.