My cat has skin cancer on his nose. Has anyone had this surgery done?

Question

My 14 year old cat was recently diagnosed with skin cancer of the nose (squamis cell). So far the cancer has not spread past the nose and overall he is completely healthy. The vet wants to do surgery to remove his nose which is an extremely expensive and complex surgery. Has anyone had a cat go through this surgery? Was it successful? How far along was the cancer?

Answer 1

I have been on the Yahoo group: feline-cancer and have not read any posts about this particular cancer or the surgery. You should at least join the group by going to www.yahoogroups.com and requesting membership (it may take 24 hours). They have 1400 members, not all currently active of course, and there may be something in their archives of post related to your cat's cancer.

Good luck and I hope you can find some information there and get some support if you decide to go through with the surgery.

Answer 2

My cat had squamous cell cancer but it was in her jawbone. Her cancer was very aggressive and I had to put her to sleep about 5 weeks later. If it's very advanced you can smell the cancer and the cat will be losing weight in spite of eating a lot more than usual. She'll be lethargic and miserable and trying to find warm places to hide. The nose being soft tissue is probably not as bad because once it's in the bone there's very little they can do. I had them do surgery but there was only so much they could remove because it was her jawbone. It was expensive but I had to try. The dynamic between my 2 cats changed dramatically too. I'm sure the other cat knew before I did since their sense of smell is so much better than humans. I'm hoping your cat will be okay.
Take care!

Answer 3

y 15y/o had fibro melonoma, skin cancer. it was on her back(shoulder area) spred to her arm pit area. when i asked this simalar question you did, a vet tech told me they survive the surgery your facing well. it is very expensive. a specialist has to do it. often they need to be retreated several times. with cats, skin cancer does not go away. you maybe faced with the "ultimate" decision. i'm so sorry this may be a factor since i just had to.
love your cat and make the best choice you can!
hopes and prayers to you!