Cancer Treatments For Oral Cancer In Cats and What Happens If Treatment Fails: VLOG 126 

My cat Sonny just got diagnosed. It is too big to operate. I am absolutely heart broken and shattered.

Thank you so much Dr Sue! My 22 yr old ..'little ancient one', Shadow..is STILL with us 6 months after developing squamous cell cancer in her upper right jaw. She developed an abscess in the same area and had to have her back molar (and the tiny tooth behind it), and her bottom right canine out in the first week of December, a fortnight after she had her last full check-up to see if she would cope with the surgery (being so old)..and an antibiotic shot, to try and settle the abscess. Her blood work came back better than most kitties less than 1/4 of her age, with no kidney, liver or other issues, so her operation date was set. My vet biopsied the mass (which I had previously been told was most likely squamous cell cancer).. and very sadly, it did come back positive. It absolutely broke my heart when I heard she may only have 1-3 months to live. Especially being so old already. I chose not to put her through any more 'treatment' than she was already going through, due to her age alone. I was giving her Loxicom after her pain meds from the sugery ran out.. if she seemed off her food, as she's always had a great appetite, but that doesn't seem to cut it lately. i took her back to the vets last week and she was prescribed 'Gabapentin'. Any thoughts on that?? I thought last week I was probably going to have to make the call, as I can't stand the thought of her being in any pain or discomfort.. yet here she is still, purring beside me as i type this. She was my kids childhood pet (1 of). My kids have 'grown & flown', yet she is is still here. She has only lost 200 grams since diagnosis but I noticed that before confirmation at the vets. The appetite stimulator is what we are trying next, and maybe an opiate based pain med..combined with my endless adoration, compassion and undeniable love . She may actually get to make it to her 23rd birthday in November, as long as she isn't suffering. Much love, respect, and appreciation.. from Melbourne Australia.

In September 2021, our Ebony (16-yo) was diagnosed with SCC. A 1.5cm lesion under her tongue. We decided not to treat the SCC, but to provide palliative care, which included Piroxicam (every other day), Buprenorphine (as needed) and the antibiotic Amoxicillin/Clavulanic. After a few days on the antibiotic, the bad breath was gone, and she was eating normally again. But three months later, the bad breath had returned, and she stopped eating. We thought this was the end and brought her for what could have been her final Vet visit. I asked about trying another round of antibiotics. The doctor agreed, but said there would be no promises, but we could give her the weekend to see if she rebounded. Again, the antibiotic kicked in and she resumed eating and was doing fine. But again, the infection returned. So again, we resumed the antibiotic, but this time I asked to keep her on it with the understanding that at some point it would stop working. She did fine for another 2 months, until finally the SCC won out. She survived for 5.5 months with a good quality of life, before we had to euthanize her. I believe the antibiotic played a huge role in her longevity. When the infection was present, she would not eat because of the pain. Also, keeping the infection at bay prevented her from becoming septic. I think antibiotics are a critical part of palliative care.

Thank you for everything you are doing Dr Sue. Praying for those pet parents whose pets are unwell.🇬🇧💕🙏💕🇺🇸

Folks she is telling you the truth; this cancer is no joke. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemie's pet. Our cat was diagnosed ,3 months later it took her.(she did fight to the end)

Just found this cancer in my 13 year old cat. Symptoms/signs were lots of thick saliva/drool, then blood drops around the house, blood found on his chin. Then opened his mouth and saw an open ulcer along the side of his tongue. Treatment was a pain management for the last of his days. However, just a few days of treatments and I can see he absolutely hates the experience. Before he was showing mild signs of discomfort, now he won’t leave his comforting hiding spots and is untrusting of me. If I were in his shoes, I would want to avoid any and all discomfort, and would probably ask for an assisted end of life plan. I plan to finish his current round of meds and determine if I should refill or help him find peace. As animal owners, we have to remove our own mental discomfort and think about theirs. No one wants to live a painful and miserable life especially with no tangible fix to our medical conditions. Choose life until you know you have to choose death. Thank you for your sharing of this knowledge. It does give me comfort I’m doing the best I can for him.

My fur baby was diagnosed today. Lower jaw was looking more and more deformed. I want to make sure she is living out the next few months happy and comfortable. My hardest decision will be knowing when it's time to let her go. She is 15 and a gentle soul. This video was very informative.

My cat Gabbie has this. Im taking her in to go to sleep tomorrow. I'm going to miss her greatly.

Our 20 year old calico was diagnosed finally due to the vet being able to see the tumor on back of tongue. Said it looked like hamburger and it was eating away the tongue. We had taken her for regular checkups and mentioned a year or more ago that she would start doing these hard swallow sounds and nobody did any looking. She is still damn frisky but for last 3-4 weeks she can't eat regularly. Use of her tongue has gone so she has to chomp the food and drinking water is difficult , she's gone from 4.5 lbs to 3.6 lbs and dehydrated. So we are having home euthanasia tomorrow unfortunately. If anyone detects signs of this, take your vet by the hand / squeeze it very tightly as if you were gonna crush a can, and tell them to do what is needed to find what the problem is. No telling how much pain our cat has dealt with. Good luck out there.

This is gonna be a long one but I'll try to be as detailed as possible. It all started when my cat Growler wouldn't eat his dry food. I figured maybe since he's old that his teeth just couldn't handle it anymore. I just switched him to wet food until we can get him in to get looked at. I will admit I should have moved quicker on this. Anyway he was still eating and doing fine. Then I started to notice weight loss and then I noticed he just stopped eating but he would look at his food like he would want to eat. I finally was able to take a good look in there and there was a cyst/abcess/tumor/w.e. growing under his tongue. We took him in asap, and got him set up with meds (antibiotic shot, gabapentin) and then we made an appointment for surgery to remove it. Only about a week or so later he had his appt and the vet called me and told me he thought it was SCC. He said that if they remove the tumor it would probably grow back in 1-3 months. So far post surgery it's almost been a month. Still nothing yet or it's too small to see. I suppose they always come back no matter what and I don't have my hopes up but oh well. So he had his surgery regardless to remove the tumor. I felt I owed it to him to at least try. It cost almost a grand. I figure if it can give us a couple extra months with him and we just keep him comfy then it's worth it. Even just two weeks would have justified it. So far he's fine. Even putting weight back on. He doesn't eat hard food anymore. Just chicken, pate, ice cream, and basically whatever he wants. Water/milk, and I know it's not optimal for cats but I figure if he's going then he may as well just get spoiled with all the stuff he enjoys. Anyway post surgery they gave him another shot and then some anti inflammatory medicine he takes once a day. We also have gabapentin in case we feel he isn't feeling too well. Symptoms from post surgery were about a week of drooling and he barely ate anything. Once the stiches subsided he has been pretty good with his diet. I guess I can only hope for a miracle at this point. His attitude has changed a little bit too. He seems to know that his time is limited. He's been spending more time with us and being less independent. Sometimes he also just sits and looks restless. I wish I could read his mind. I feel his journey on this planet will be soon but I also feel it was a very meaningful one. He's touched the hearts of many people. He changed me for the better, and it will be like losing a son. I hope to find him at that rainbow bridge when my time comes.

My 8 year old cat had an inflated eye, was breathing poorly, had high fewer and had fluids coming out of his eye. He was also constantly hiding (something he never does). I had his blood tested and it came back as a high levels of inflammation . They discovered that he had a mouth tumor and the test results came back as a tumor. I gave him different kinds of antiobiotics for a week and on the next visit the tumor completely dissapeared. It's been a month and all the health issues he had (inflated eye, heavy breathing, eye fluids, inflammation, fewer) just dissapeared and the cat is fine. The vets are not even able to explain what just happened.

Thank you, Dr. My boy was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. He's still eating, thankfully. I've been giving him Prednisolone in pill form, but I'm going to ask my doctor about liquid. I'm so heartbroken, but I'm going to make sure he's comfortable for as long as he has.

My boy was just diagnosed with this. He's 15 yrs old. I love him to much to put him through any more pain 🥲❤️

This video is very informative, thanks. I'm devastated, my cat got diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma and she is only 2 years old 😢 She is full of energy (one and only symptom : slight bloody discharge from the mouth but the carcinoma under her tongue is already big). I wish I had insisted on brushing her teeth, I would have spotted the tumor earlier 😢 Can't stop crying.

Could you talk about the diet animals with cancer have to follow? Like limiting carbohydrates, introducing fats...

What if you don't trust your vet because of what they have done and can't afford to go anywhere else?

My mum cat got put down yesterday due to cancer in his mouth jawline, he was to far gone for surgery and we didnt want him to suffer but i wish he was here

My cat's Necropsy showed Squamous Cell Carcinoma of her lower jaw. She had been successfully treated for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy that became Congestive Heart Failure. She lived over 4 years with this heart condition with 2 different Diaretics and 1 Blood Thinner. She could not be treated for the Squamous cell carcinoma because of her heart condition

Where is the study showing my cat with a huge huge oral tumor on his jaw ??? The vets said about 3 months but I already have 8 years with this thing growing . Now he’s getting closer to being put down but he still ears just fine . It’s just that his tumor is so big he has very limited jaw motion and he’s on multiple pain meds now . This is why it’s almost his time but I got 8 good years

I took my cat to the vet on October 20 2020 and while the cat was under anesthesia the vet inspected his mouth. He told me that my cat had a lesion that was most likely cancer. He said he was 99.99% sure so I didn't think a biopsy was necessary. Well fast forward to now and my cat hasn't slowed down 1 bit. He's as active as he's ever been. He eats soft wet food and dry cat food. The abscess on my cats cheek eventually did become swollen it looks like a wound next to his mouth now. Does this still sound like cancer?

Mirtazapine can come in liquid and pill form also.

Thank you, this was extremely informative. I'm currently waiting for the biopsy report for my 15 year old Ragdoll cat, Jinxie. It should arrive next week. Doesn't look promising as I suspect it is SCC. Thank you for your honest opinions about this awful condition. I appreciate it.

Love your videos and energy!

My very dear 17 year old passed away after living on anti-inflammatory medication and later Gabapentin for 5 month after diagnosis. I think the surgery is brutal and unnesessary.

Wish I had seen this when my cat had an SCC in his tongue 5 years ago. I decided to do radiation and did only one treatment before having to euthanize him. It made his symptoms SO much worse...had I known I wouldn't have done it. In 2.5 weeks I went from having a normal acting cat to one I had to PTS. It was that fast...:(. In hindsight I should have done a feeding tube and given him palliative care.

I know this is an old video BUT what about cryotherapy?

Miku survived 7.5 months from the day you saw the lesion. Statistics buster again. 😔

WAY too much going on with surgery and radiation and tubes,my cat is doing well on CBD.

my cat has a tumor on the side of her mouth. I'm not sure what to do. can i give her life gold to give her a better quality of life? i would love an answer as I need help caring for her. thank you

Mirataz is a miracle drug!! One dose gives my cat an appetite for 4-5 days. Easy to use as well.

I wonder if immunotherapy could be helpful, as it is becoming a promising treatment in some cancers for people as an alternative to chemo.???

Jinxie's biopsy came back today. He has SCC. My question, can cryotherapy be helpful by using liquid nitrogen to spot freeze the cells in the lesion? Just curious, though not knowledgeable. Thanks, Dr. Sue.

My 16 year old boy was diagnosed tonight. Four months ago he all his teeth removed with gingivitis..doing great eating and putting on weight. However started to paw frantically at his mouth again and vet *thinks* it is a tumour back of his throat/jaw. He got a steroid/antibiotic injection and I’m hoping it settles him in a few days. Would it be wise to get a biopsy and second opinion.?

They suspect my cat has this and she is scheduled for biopsy this week. I read an article on PubMed about using cox-2 inhibitors. They gave her Buprenorphine which is an opiod for pain management. Should I be asking to switch to a cox-2 NSAID? Has this been shown to slow down this cancer in any of your patients? Thanks. This was very informative.

I've been bawling out, we went to check our cat out and the vet said that she has some tumor on her mouth.. and something about her not being able to survive long please is there any possibility of surviving, is it really impossible? i just can't hand;e knowing any of this we were given cocoa (our cat).a year ago by a family friend. at that time she came in so healthy, her weight so good. we took her to the vet when we first got her just to make sure everything was alright, and she was PERFECTLY healthy. but now, seeing that in the last few months she's lost a bit of weight and a few of those symptoms been showing, I feel like it must be bad luck that she came to us. I mean the people she was with 7 years, she was so healthy when they didn't even take her to the vet ever. Other than the symptoms, she's still going around really well, playing, eating (9lbs atm), sleeping well. I just don't get why this had to happen, to be told that there are probably a few months left is the worst thing I could ever hear.

Where is part one please Thanks 🙏

What about sublingual cancer treatment?

My cat 18 year old boy was diagnosed to the last 3 week. 😢

Dr. Sue - my vet prescribed Onsior for more than 3 days. I had him on a round of 3 pills already back on 1/8 and it didn't seem to do much. So now she wants me to try it again but for a longer period of time and says not to worry about the "max of 3 days" on the label. Is this accurate? Just FYI she is a cat vet but not an oncologist. I am very interested in Palladia and have messaged you at your practice. I am able to pill my cat easily still for now.

is it recommended to have dental cleaning and if my 15 yr old cat has oral cancer?

Would bloodwork show an infection or cancer?

So in other words. Do you want to put your cat thru all that for what more than likely will not extend it`s lifespan or quality of life.