Feline oral malignant melanoma

Re: Feline oral malignant melanoma

Bob Russell — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:34:18 GMT

We booked a Staffie in for removal of a nasty looking lump on its back leg (plus a smaller melanotic growth on the other side) but when I intubated there was an oral tumour medial to the upper carnassial.

I put two and two together to make mast cell tumour or secondary tumours. Completely wrong! The large rapidly growing mass was benign. The small growth on the other side was benign but the tumour in the mouth was a 'soft tissue' sarcoma of unclear origins.

We only found the malignant growth 'by accident'. The dog is a SH1T so looking into its mouth would have a very risky procedure!

Re: Feline oral malignant melanoma

Martin Atkinson — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:52:18 GMT

Whoops deleted

Re: Feline oral malignant melanoma

ruthgloster1 — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:18:19 GMT

thanks!

I reckon its non resectable, as its on the buccal mucosa left side and if it was this only I could resect it happily but it tracks up into the hard palate also, i sampled the centre of the mass, ie the bit in the buccal mucosa and also took a small sample from the discoloured hard palate and both samples came back as malignant melanoma.

I've sent an advice request to the rvc about radiotherapy but I'll get in touch with the VRCC aswell.

The cat is doing suprisingly well, it was crying whilst trying to eat so was booked for a dental and hence the mass was discovered, the owners wanted us to do the dental, so the 3 canines with nasty periodontal disease were removed and the cat is on convenia/metacam and is back to normal, gained weight etc, so I'm thinking the melanoma has been a very nasty incidental finding!!!

I'm guessing this will follow a similar path to most oral SCC in cats, but just looking for options for the owners. Metacam at least will help a bit if the owners don't want to pursue further.

Re: Feline oral malignant melanoma

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:05:45 GMT

Yes, once. Owner plumped for just palliation until it got too bad. As I remember, it lasted about a month. It was the primary tumour that brought the end, not metastases.

I wonder if they may actually be slightly more common than generally supposed since many nasty lumps in cats' mouths will not be biopsied and maybe they will be assumed to be squamous cell carcinomata.

I'm not being funny, but are you sure it is not resectable? Where is it?

Xray chest of course.

There's a possibility it might be treatable by radiotherapy, I think, but I can't remember references. Consult with Laura Blackwood at Liverpool.

VRCC have a novel treatment for canine malignant melanoma with a therapeutic vaccine. Whether it could possibly be applied to a cat I don't know, but you could ask.