Anyone with an allergy to cat hair, or a fear of cats, would
be well advised not to visit Chime’s house. This large black
¾ Persian cross, (without the flat face) shares his home with
a Norwegian Forest Cat and a Ragdoll, two of the largest, hairiest
breeds around. (see row of bottoms below!) All three are kept
immaculately groomed and regularly bathed (yes, it can be done
if you start early enough) until their coats shine with good
health.
Apart
from visits to the clinic for booster vaccinations, Chime was
a very infrequent patient (not that we didn’t enjoy his visits)
but one day, his attentive owner noticed a swelling on his right
foreleg. All cats have a firm “knobble” about 1cm above the
stopper pad on the foreleg (the pad a short distance from the
main pad at the back of the leg) which is normal anatomy, and
at first, when the owner described the swelling to us, it sounded
like it was this she was noticing. However, when Chime came
in for his booster and health check, we realised that this wasn’t
normal anatomy but was some form of tumour. The word “tumour”
may make you immediately think of cancer, but the word is used
to describe any abnormal swelling of tissue in which the cells
grow quicker than normal. In fact many tumours are benign and,
if removed completely, will not grow again. The vet thought
it may be a cyst, a harmless fluid filled mass, but when a needle
was popped into the tissue it was found that the tumour was
solid. It wasn’t painful, or causing any problems to Chime,
but it was decided that it would be better to remove it before
it grew too large. It was also advisable because at that stage
we didn't know exactly what sort of tumour we were dealing with.
Accordingly, the theatre was booked a few days later for surgical
excision.
Chime was anaesthetised and the area over and around the lump
shaved and prepared for surgery. He had had a bath just a few
days before and so the bald patch on his leg contrasted quite
markedly with the rest of his glorious coat. The surgery went
very well indeed; some lumps can be very difficult to remove
entirely, either due to them being very well attached to the
underlying tissue or to them being quite extensive and it being
difficult to find the tumour edges properly. However, Chime’s
lump was quite small, not attached to any other structures and
well demarcated (it had defined edges making it easy for the
surgeon to cut away the entire lump). It was popped into a small
container of formalin ( a tissue preservative) and sent away
to a laboratory for analysis.
Chime
made a very quick and uneventful recovery, and was collected
by his relieved owner later the same day. The analysis of a
tumour under the microscope (histopathology) can tell us several
things. The most obvious thing is if it is malignant or benign,
what other tissues are involved, i.e. is it just skin cells,
muscle cells or, if inside the cat, what organ is involved,
and, if the whole lump has been sent away, to check that there
hasn’t been any bits left behind. The wait for the results (usually
5 - 7 days) is as nerve-wracking for the owner as the actual
operation.
If the tumour proved to be cancerous, there would be the worry
about spread (metastases) to other parts of the body. Luckily
for Chime, he had no idea about any of the implications, all
he knew was that he felt absolutely fine one day, the next he
had a bald leg and some subcutaneous (just under the surface
of the skin) sutures in it! Just 3 days later came the result:
the lump was a Basal Cell Epithelioma - a non-malignant tumour
of the skin cells. The report also told us that the vet had
removed the whole thing and so there should be no recurrence
at the site.
The histopathology was vital to reassure us about the nature
of the mass- without it we could have worried about the possibility
of a cancer. Although we can have some hunches about the type
of tumour we might be dealing with, histopathology provides
a more accurate diagnosis and prognosis and, although relatively
expensive, is a very useful service in the veterinary world.
Fortunately, Chime’s tumour wasn’t life-threatening and so he
can return to his feline family minus nothing more than a few
square inches of silky hair.
MEET
SOME OF OUR PATIENTS: “Chime"
Apart
from visits to the clinic for booster vaccinations, Chime was
a very infrequent patient (not that we didn’t enjoy his visits)
but one day, his attentive owner noticed a swelling on his right
foreleg. All cats have a firm “knobble” about 1cm above the
stopper pad on the foreleg (the pad a short distance from the
main pad at the back of the leg) which is normal anatomy, and
at first, when the owner described the swelling to us, it sounded
like it was this she was noticing. However, when Chime came
in for his booster and health check, we realised that this wasn’t
normal anatomy but was some form of tumour. The word “tumour”
may make you immediately think of cancer, but the word is used
to describe any abnormal swelling of tissue in which the cells
grow quicker than normal. In fact many tumours are benign and,
if removed completely, will not grow again. The vet thought
it may be a cyst, a harmless fluid filled mass, but when a needle
was popped into the tissue it was found that the tumour was
solid. It wasn’t painful, or causing any problems to Chime,
but it was decided that it would be better to remove it before
it grew too large. It was also advisable because at that stage
we didn't know exactly what sort of tumour we were dealing with.
Accordingly, the theatre was booked a few days later for surgical
excision. 
Chime
made a very quick and uneventful recovery, and was collected
by his relieved owner later the same day. The analysis of a
tumour under the microscope (histopathology) can tell us several
things. The most obvious thing is if it is malignant or benign,
what other tissues are involved, i.e. is it just skin cells,
muscle cells or, if inside the cat, what organ is involved,
and, if the whole lump has been sent away, to check that there
hasn’t been any bits left behind. The wait for the results (usually
5 - 7 days) is as nerve-wracking for the owner as the actual
operation.