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concerned about growth on paw pad?
- Thread starter moondiamond
- Start date
moondiamond
Savannah Super Cat
southern ontario!
moondiamond
Savannah Super Cat
Just wanted to come back and post our vet update. Dex had his appointment this morning. I feel slightly more reassured, but it was actually a pretty scary visit. The vet's first thought was to do a chest x-ray to rule out feline lung-digit syndrome, which to my understanding is oddly enough a primary lung cancer that can metastasize and present as skin lesions on the toes. So they did a chest x-ray right then and there, and thankfully ruled that out!!! Was honestly the scariest 20 minutes waiting for those results.
Based on that, the vet said it is likely that it is just a benign little growth but she still recommends having it biopsied to be 100% sure. She didn't think a needle aspiration would be as conclusive as an excisional biopsy because the spot is quite small. So we will have that done later this week. Pretty nervous about having my boy under general anesthetic but I really want to just be sure that this is nothing that will harm him. Thanks to everyone for your replies and support!
Based on that, the vet said it is likely that it is just a benign little growth but she still recommends having it biopsied to be 100% sure. She didn't think a needle aspiration would be as conclusive as an excisional biopsy because the spot is quite small. So we will have that done later this week. Pretty nervous about having my boy under general anesthetic but I really want to just be sure that this is nothing that will harm him. Thanks to everyone for your replies and support!
Thanks for the update. Keeping fingers crossed that his minor procedure goes smoothly and that the biopsy results show no cause for concern.
moondiamond
Savannah Super Cat
Thanks so much Witchy, will definitely post an update once we know exactly what the spot is. Thank you for your concern 
I like your vet - very thorough and down to earth. I'm certainly glad that they ruled out feline lung digit syndrome, but glad you are getting a biopsy so will know for sure. If possible, try to steer away from ketamine as an induction agent when receiving anesthesia, cats sometimes don't fare well with this agent. Propofol, if available, is a reasonable option. There is a newer agent called alfaxalone which is supposed to be good but I have no practical experience with it so would defer to your vet's recommendations.
moondiamond
Savannah Super Cat
Thanks Patti! Yes she was very thorough which I'm happy about. We discussed the issue of using Ketamine and I checked in with our breeder too and she said using isofluorane gas would be ideal too as it leaves the body the fastest.
I'm still super nervous about him going under for this minor surgery, and of course, what might show up on the biopsy results I've been doing online research (which probably isn't helping my worrying), it just seems so unusual that such a young cat would have this growth appear out of the blue.
I'm still super nervous about him going under for this minor surgery, and of course, what might show up on the biopsy results
I've been doing online research (which probably isn't helping my worrying), it just seems so unusual that such a young cat would have this growth appear out of the blue.
Isofluorane is a gas anesthesia. Ketamine and propofol are induction agents that are commonly used to sedate the animal and 'smooth' the effects of the gas anesthesia. In my experience it's not often that a vet will give gas without first giving an induction agent, but sometimes they will if you specifically ask them to.
moondiamond
Savannah Super Cat
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to come back with an update. Dexter had his minor surgery to remove the lesion on his toe pad on Friday - the vet ended up being able to sedate him and use a local anesthetic on the paw, of course without the use of Ketamine. I was glad they were able to do such a minor removal without having to put him under a general anesthetic. Friday afternoon when we took him home, he was super hyper which I thought was strange, he was tearing around the house and barely slept, even overnight. Then Saturday (yesterday) he seemed a lot quieter than usual and napped most of the day. Today he is totally back to himself, and the biopsy site on his toe pad doesn't seem to bother him at all.
The site seems to have some swelling and looks a bit scabby which I suspect is normal. We get the test results on Wednesday of this week hopefully; though the vet that did the surgery said it was likely a benign spot and probably nothing to lose sleep over. I'm still a little anxious to find out what it is but the vet was reassuring.
Thanks to everyone here for the advice!
Just wanted to come back with an update. Dexter had his minor surgery to remove the lesion on his toe pad on Friday - the vet ended up being able to sedate him and use a local anesthetic on the paw, of course without the use of Ketamine. I was glad they were able to do such a minor removal without having to put him under a general anesthetic. Friday afternoon when we took him home, he was super hyper which I thought was strange, he was tearing around the house and barely slept, even overnight. Then Saturday (yesterday) he seemed a lot quieter than usual and napped most of the day. Today he is totally back to himself, and the biopsy site on his toe pad doesn't seem to bother him at all.
The site seems to have some swelling and looks a bit scabby which I suspect is normal. We get the test results on Wednesday of this week hopefully; though the vet that did the surgery said it was likely a benign spot and probably nothing to lose sleep over. I'm still a little anxious to find out what it is but the vet was reassuring.
Thanks to everyone here for the advice!
Very glad to hear that the surgery went smoothly. His behavior the following day may have been a side effect of the sedation he received (it is actually one of the (more benign) side effects seen with Ketamine administration, so possibly caused by other agents as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you get great news on Wednesday