Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma In Cats- VetVid Episode 024

Learn more about Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma In Cats (Feline Oral SCC). In this video we meet with Dr. Mona Rosenberg who is board certified in veterinary oncology. She'll discuss Feline Oral SCC: testing & diagnosis, therapies & treatment.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• VETVID
• FELINE
• ORAL
• SCC
• cat
• squamous
• cell
• carcinoma
• cats
• cancer
• signs
• veterinary
• oncology
• tumor

[aaronshawniii]

Thank you for taking your time to reply. Unfortunately you failed to address my concerns as to why the vet would do invasive surgery. I spoke to a family friend/vet who has been practicing for 26 years and he said although the only conclusive way to diagnose squamous cell carcinoma is via a biopsy. However; any experienced vet would be 90% accurate with a diagnosis based on the physical exam.

[VetVid]

@aaronshawniii Unfortunately this type of forum makes it difficult for us to address specific cases, best to discuss face-to-face with a vet so there can be a thorough understanding and some Q & A. Sounds like that is what you did. So sorry to hear about your cat.

[aaronshawniii]

I would like to thank you, so much, for this informative video. I just found out today that my beloved cat has squamous cell carcinoma of the roof of his mouth. I am puzzled as to why my vet went ahead and extracted five teeth when he found two oral ulcers that he suspected were cancer. I am devistated with the diagnosis and why my vet would perform oral surgery. I know, from working in an acute care hospital for 23 years, that open wounds will accelerate the spread of a carcinoma.

[VetVid]

@aaronshawniii It is always a good idea to consult with an oncologist.

[badereric]

@aaronshawniii my vet, too, wants to do biopsy, x-ray and chemo/radiation on my 14 year old cat. she's not showing signs of pain, just weight loss and an abscess on her neck which has been difficult to treat. she's probably going to live three months at most, with or without chemo/radiation. why put her through the agony of surgery and toxic treatments these last days of her life?

[badereric]

@RhiannonRose63 bathing your cat regularly has shown to be an effective prevention against SCC. if you can manage, maybe it's something to consider for your other cats.

[badereric]

I take some issues with the oncologist in this video. I feel that she presents a too optimistic picture of the outcomes of a cat with SCC, a cancer known to be extremely lethal and difficult to treat.

I think, as pet owners, we must try to think really hard about the pros and cons of doing anything that might cause pain in our pets during their last months.

[badereric]

Veterinary journals suggest that less than 10% of SCC cases are good candidates for surgery. Chemotherapy and radiation rarely results in actual shrinkage of tumors. Only an aggressive type of radiation treatment has shown about 50% chance of remission resulting in a median duration of 170 days. It is also very expensive and might require the use of a feeding tube due to the side effects.

We have to ask ourselves, are these results worth the deterioration in quality of life of the pet?

[badereric]

The cat has no idea of living 1 more month versus 6 more months, especially if one or two of those months will be spent on burning radiation treatment or painful surgery recovery.

So if a vet is presented with an old cat with a lumpy mass growing in the mouth along with weight loss, I feel she ought to offer the options to perform biopsy, radiation and chemotherapy with some major caveats. But many of them do not, such as the one in this video.

[badereric]

I think most vets love animals. But they also spend a lot of time on their training. I think it's more interesting and prestigious for them to do far flung medicine such as radiation treatment and mandibulectomy But we can't treat our pets like they are humans. We can't make the decision for them that their life is worth at any price.

So for goodness sake, think really hard before you submit your elderly cat to end of life biopsies, surgeries and cancer treatments.

[PurpleKnightSaber]

@aaronshawniii Even before he performed the cytology, he had said that if it was SCC (which, sadly, it turned out to be), that it was too far advanced to do anything about surgery-wise. So at least he was honest with me about that. After it was confirmed SCC, all I could do for Frisky was to keep him comfortable, which resulted in a regimen of buprenorphine twice a day, and later on, giving him Metacam in addition to that every three days.

[aaronshawniii]

Elleleila; Thanks you so much for your rude, crass and totally inappropiriate comment. It just so happens that the vets I referred to are on the other side of the country and the procedure had already been done with out my consent. Oh yes, My beloved cat passed away on September 29th.

[Elleleila]

Then maybe you should have taken your cat to your family friend/vet who has the uncanny ability to tell what a mass lesion is based on appearance.