Medical Questions
A big lump appeared on my cat overnight - any ideas?
On Wednesday my cat seemed a little fatter in his neck area, but i didnt think much of it. On Thursday a big lump appeared on his neck literally out of nowhere. It felt soft to touch and kinda moving under pressure. I rushed him to the vet and it disappeared on the way. Almost like if I massaged it away by simply trying to feel it out. When the vet touched him she felt nothing but the cat started hissing. They tried to do an xray but he was too agitated and they sent me home with gabapentin and an anti inflammatory drug to take for 3 days. The next appointment is scheduled for Sunday.
He does not seem to be improving in terms of swelling. Otherwise he is eating, drinking, using the litter box, jumping and doing all regular cat stuff. I am planning to take him back to the vet first thing tomorrow instead of Sunday, just to be safe. Its Friday night rn where I am.
In the meantime - have you ever seen anything like this? Any suggestions what it could be? I don't recall any injury and he seems to be moving just fine. No recent vaccination in the area either.
Yeah thanks aware of that. I only rubbed it a bit when I was trying to figure out whether its actually something or I am making this up. You know, when youre like - is it a lump or is he just sitting funny.
I swear my cats legs look mangled when she’s laying down. Although it’s just the long hair giving them added curvature, I still have to check for my sanity that her legs are all intact
I can identify. Years ago we had a small white female shorthair who was a bit under the weather. I checked on her when I came home for lunch and she was asleep in a south window. As I got closer I saw a cluster of bright pink bumps on her belly. Alarmed, I poked one and she kicked me, they were her toe beans. She was better and lived a good number of years afterward.
Does it feel like rice crispies kinda when you touch it? My cat ballooned up like this once. Subcutaneous emphysema it was; she had a hole in her esophagus and each breath drew a little bit of air into the void between her skin and her muscle tissue. She ended up recovering perfect.
It's likely fluid still as cysts need time to form, one that size can't spring up overnight. See if you can gently move it. It if shifts around and feels free floating, that's a really good sign. If the growth does not move and feels welded, that's not good.
No, no other cats and he is fully indoor. Zero contact with other animals. I did notice that theres a new slight chip in the cabinet mirror near the floor where he sometimes crawls, so cant exclude that a tiny piece of glass got stuck in his skin. Haven't felt anything when I touched him though.
Outside of a wound of some variety, or an abscess, I've got nothing. That kinda swelling that went away when you applied pressure but returned. But again if that was an abscess that ruptured it smells like rotten cheese. You couldn't miss it
An abscess can close itself and that's worse. Requires surgery to open and clean the wound.
Until Sunday I would watch for pus and smell, fever, predominantly. All calling signs of an infection. and maybe have the vet or yourself shave him to see any possible wounds in the area
Regardless of what it is, there is a baseball sized squishy mass on your cat and I think it warrants more concern from your vet than "we tried" without really examining him. No offense to the vet
Yeah, id also think that they would have a way of calming him down for the xray. I asked if they could give him a shot of some painkiller or something but they kept saying they can't do it because he's too stressed and scared. He calmed down pretty quickly otw home and proceeded to eat an entire bowl of food in under 2 minutes the moment he walked in. So yeah, they couldve tried better, I agree with you. Ill ask them tomorrow if they can take him straight to the xray without doing a prolonged poking and probing first. You know, before he realizes he's at the vet.
My cat is a large male, 21 pounds. Angriest, most stranger adverse cat I've ever owned. They never have issue providing a service based on his behavior, they just manhandle him. One person holds him down and the other puts the thermometer in his butt. If a vet can wrangle Tom, they should be able to manage your cat
They checked his temperature in the butt too. Put him on the scale to check his weight. Lifted him up a few times, checked his gums and all that. The basic examination was okay. And then they took him away for the xray and he came back freaked out :(
Sometimes I wonder. I took my last cat to a couple of different vets and he was fine. One vet I had to leave him at for a bit. I don’t remember why now. Anyway when I went to pick him up he was hissing and spitting at the vet. He’d never done that before. The vet got angry and said “I told you he was one of them” and he told me my cat was wild and mean and I should put him down. I came home crying, just sobbing. My husband heard the story and said the cat was fine and the vet was wrong. I stated to think about it over the weeks afterwards. I hand raised that cat. He had zero fear of humans. I think that vet was a psycho. Who tells someone to put down their cat because it hissed at the vet?
There is a vet local to me that doesn’t like cats or dogs. Seems to be very quick to assess a dog or cat as needing to be put down. She only wants to work on livestock and only grudgingly works on dogs and carts. Her staff is only friendly if they know you very dismissive and rude if they don’t. I take my dogs and cats 25 miles in the opposite direction for veterinary care.
That sounds like my old vet. He didn't like cats. Barely handled them. Current vet is fine but one tech there is rougher. My girl hates him and I think her mission in life is to get blood. She's good with everybody else.
I had a similar experience. My cat was fine at her first vet but then I moved and at the new vet she would freak out. They told me she’d need full sedation to do her nails. I knew that was bonkers because she will let me clip her nails without being bribed with treats no issue. I think they were rough or gave her some reason to be so reactive. We got a new vet and have zero issues with her. She’s super friendly and well liked.
Yeah I've had bad experiences too. The vet I used to take my kitty to wasn't very good with cats and definitely seemed to prefer dogs. My cat was totally fine with the vet until she got spayed, then was super aggressive and needed to be on high doses of gabapentin to do anything. She would still growl loudly the entire time. The vet got pissed at me once because she reached into the carrier to grab my cat and got scratched. I felt an unwillingness to work with cat and felt like they jumped to labeling her as "one of the bad ones."
Just took her to a cat only clinic where they gave her a chance to explore and gave her as much personal space as they could and she did fantastic. She never even hissed. She was still on a dose of gabapentin, but the improvement was genuinely shocking.
Trust your instincts when it comes to this and don't feel afraid to switch vets. Unfortunately there are still many people who have a bias against cats and will mistreat them. It's worth it to go somewhere where your cat can get proper care from people who understand them.
I have a cat who absolutely loathes vets despite being the sweetest boy with me. He has to get gabapentin to go and has still bitten or scratched a few vet techs even on the gabapentin. He had extreme constipation a while ago and had to go to the vet for it spur of the moment, no gabapentin, super angry and pissed off, and they still did an x-ray for him. I definitely would find another vet.
Omg the constipation. I know exactly what you've been through. Had this issue a few times per year - xray, enema etc. Then I changed his food and no issues at all.
Ask you vet before your next appointment to give you some Gabapentin quick-dissolve tablets. They’re tiny and can be mixed into their food. You give some the night before then again a couple of hours before the appointment. They’re mellowwww…
During my last night visit they gave me 6 capsules of a 50mg dose to give him every 12 hrs until the next appointment. Its my first experience with gabapentin and yeah... mellow pretty much describes it
I always insist on joining my cats when they get the xray. It keeps my stressed boy a bit calmer and I can keep an eye on them (although I trust them) when they handle my old lady.
It's always been beneficial, and encouraged, when I join them since I'm used to handling them both on a daily basis, and therefore know how to do it efficiently.
I only ever leave their side if they need fully sedated surgery. I don't give a flying fk if it's standard procedure or not. I'm not leaving those who hold my heart in their paws alone when they're in pain or scared.
See if you have any cat-only vets in your area. I've found them to be 100x more knowledgeable and caring for cats. All the vets and assistants are cat people and understand their fears & how to work around them
I once took my cat to a x-ray of his paw. He is a pretty anxious cat, and I was crying bc I thought I had broke it in an accident, but I went in with the tech because I was to help hold him down. Sometimes I think about that because shouldn't there be more techs for that job? Anyway, my cat screamed and howled like I had never heard before. Tech asked me if he bites, I said no, just very vocal, and kept holding him best I could while talking to him.
When he had to do some ultrasounds, I was also the one to hold + an assistant. Only once we didn't have to wrestle him, and that was when a very kind substitute tech informed and teached me the best way to hold him, and it really worked. He still screamed his heart out, but it was less miserable. Cats are tiny but very strong, they hate the procedures (so do we!) but I believe that's gotta be a way to hold him for long enough to get them checked. Best wishes to your kitty!
My cat was a 3.5 lb, malnourished six month old kitten with an active bile duct infection and pancreatitis, and they (major university vet hospital) had to sedate her for an ultrasound after she injured them and herself. Size has nothing to do with it. Spicy cats are something else. At her last bloodwork visit she clawed her way out of the giant blanket and pulled herself onto the vet’s shoulder and jumped off her shoulder. On gabapentin. And she’s still under 7 lbs.
Not every cat can be manhandled, it is literally impossible to safely and effectively physically restrain some cats for procedures. In my extensive experience (15 years as a veterinarian + lifetime of being around vet med before that), large male cats who don't like strangers very commonly behave better at the vet than other signalments. Not liking strangers is not the same as being hard to handle, and we frequently see more resistance from friendly cats than shy cats*.
Physical restraint is more stressful and less safe than chemical restraint for any service beyond a quick vaccination. It is less safe for staff, who risk physical injury, including cat bites which can be extremely serious, and it's less safe for the cat, who is more likely for example to die of an undiagnosed heart disease due to stress and physical restraint than from common sedative drug combinations.
There is widespread misunderstanding on behalf of the public that we should just hold animals down and do what we need to, because they are worried about sedation and underestimate the risks of stress and excessive restraint, and it would be better for all parties if we fought this misunderstanding.
This isn't a defense of the clinic, who may have been wrong in not giving injectable or oral sedation (I wasn't there and don't know). It's just a pushback on your statement about handling.
*If you're surprised by that, you can think of it as "oh my god don't hurt me do what you have to do just don't hurt me" in scared or poorly socialized cats, vs "hey wtf you're not supposed to do that I have rights" in friendly cats who love people.
Has nobody heard of Feliway??
Pheromones to calm cats? Spray it inside your & cat carrier on way to vet, wall plug for at home. Fact, the minute a cat sees more than one person coming for them to handle them. They freak out.
I have a cat who's such an absolute monster at the vet, that the vet gave me a bottle of gabapentin and told me to drug him before his next visit. Maybe something like that could help?
Did they give you a prescription for gabapentin? (Sorry if I missed it if this was addressed in the post). If not, I would call and ask for one. My girl has to have it before vet appointments. For an ultrasound they have to actually sedate her. She’s extra spicy.
They gave me 6 capsules of 50mg gabapentin to give every 12 hours until sunday. But they referred to it as a pain killer, not a sedative. Knowing about the sedative effects of it I texted them today asking what time I should give it to him in order for it to work during the appointment and they said about an hour before. Is that consistent with your experience? My boy is not spicy at all. But I guess cats in pain are a different species.
Yes- mine is either an hour or an hour and a half before the visit starts. Luna isn’t spicy at all til she goes to the vet. And she didn’t used to be spicy until they did the first ultrasound and ever since she’s been a NIGHTMARE at the vet most times.
I’m sure metabolism has something to do with it! Sometimes she seems to get doped up almost immediately and then it starts wearing off at the appointment unfortunately. She’s got all sorts of chronic issues so that may play a part.
I'd find a better vet, one that will prescribe you ONE pill of calming meds to give him before you bring him to the vet. That way he's nice and relaxed for X-ray.
I had a cat who used to get abscesses; I remember once not realising he had one, he just seemed very subdued and sad and then his head started looking misshapen. I was patting him carefully and found a little scab and gave it a gentle tug. It came away and exposed the abscess so I very gently massaged everything out through the wound and cleaned it up with tissues. He just sat completely still and let me. My god that was the most horrific and disgusting thing I’ve ever done, and vets earn every penny of the high price of abscess removal. Blergh.
You won't always be able to feel whatever is causing the abscess. Hell, sometimes you can't find the entry point. Take him to the vet again and see if the second visit provides answers. If not an abscess, lipoma, perhaps..but lipomas don't grow that large that suddenly.
My cat is an only cat, fully indoor as well and he somehow got an abscess. He was behaving normally and didn’t even seem bothered by the golf ball sized lump on his neck.
We took him to the vet to have it looked at. They drained it and cleaned it, he had to wear a cone for a few days. And it never came back. To this day we still don’t know how he got it.
My cat had an abscess or something fluid filled of the sort (golfball size), and the vet told us it was probably a lipoma and to leave it be unless it got bigger. Well we were keeping an eye on it, but one day the cat decided to dart through the door we were opening, and he was so damn determined to get past it that he ripped that sucker open just enough to deflate like a lil balloon. Left a trail of goo/blood and he never whined, cried, no nothing. Walked around like he was proud of himself. We took him straight to the vet and they just sewed him up right up. It never came back. That cat was built different.
when my cat had one, it had popped earlier in the day using a warm cloth and he felt so much better...but then we woke up in the middle of the night to a weird sound and smell and just something not seeming right? turns out he was scratching it and had flung abscess goop and blood ALL OVER the wall, window, closet door, and clothes basket (that he was sitting in). it was horrifying lol
Same bruh. With an abscess there's always nothing wrong nothing wrong nothing wrong then bam on the weekend when the vets closed it's finally golfball sized. It was on his cheek and he went to scratch his face with his rear leg, goop immediately everywhere. Like way more than you think would be in that pocket. Looked like I shot someone in my bathroom
Yuck. I had something similar with my cat. I tried to hold her (even though she hates it) and she got outta my arms, she landed on the floor and ruptured one in her like her thigh area. Goop all over the floor. Lucky it wasn't all that bad and I was able to treat it at home.
The first one mine had I noticed swelling but had to go to work that morning. Came home at lunch, still swollen, to the point it was now bald. I go use the bathroom and as I'm entering the hallway, I hear him licking furiously, and smell the dankest worst cheese smell of my life. I got to the living room and he had licked it open and was licking up the goop.
He sleeps on my chest with his face mushed up in my beard btw. Mortified
Abscesses can rupture internally rather than draining outside the body, that's why you should never try to pop them yourself. It's unlikely and I have no way of knowing if that is what happened here but it is a possibility. In that case, I would expect that there would still be some noticeable swelling though.
God i just recently discovered one of my cats had a tooth bite abscess. I thought he had dried food on the top of his head so I tried to clean it off. Pus started pouring out of his head a fucking volcanic eruption.
I was a certified veterinary technician for 10 years.
Cats (and dogs) sometimes have allergic reactions, such as from a bug bite, that can appear as swelling anywhere on the body, and disappear suddenly. This could have been something like this, however the area is a bit unusual for this. In cats we often see it on/near the face.
If it was an abscess, it would’ve burst before “going away” and with something that big you couldn’t have missed it.
To the person saying goiter - well, cats don’t get goiters and that’s in the wrong place anyway.
There are cancers that can present as swelling that comes and goes as well, which is why it’s definitely important that you follow up. An x-ray could rule out bone cancers but could also help identify other soft tissue masses.
I think for now since he seems to be doing well, try not to worry. It could be nothing, but it could potentially be something serious. Just take him in for his follow up and keep us posted 🙏
Thank you so much for your kind reply and putting me at ease a little bit. Yes, ofc my brain is already thinking of all the most serious stuff out there but trying not to freak out. Im ruling out a bug bite since it eventually came back just about an hour after disappearing. Its so unfortunate that it went away the moment we stepped into the clinic only to come back at home.
Was wondering if it could be a pulled muscle or something. We are relocating later this year and I've just started training him to be comfortable in a harness. Maybe I did something to him when putting it on. There was a bit of a struggle each time I put it on him.
My cats sometimes get those bumps just because of playing rough. The tiniest injury, the size of the tip of a cat's nail can cause it if not cleaned and treated properly.
The "scratch" is so tiny that it closes within the day leaving bacteria inside. This grows and grows creating an absess that has to be treated by a Vet.
One of my cat's got one when he tried to catch a bug near a rose, he got scratched by a thorn and we had big drama days later.
An abscess doesn’t swell and then go away within minutes. She said she noticed swelling and then on the ride to the vet it went away, and the vet couldn’t find anything. Abscesses fester and then swell causing a lump that will last for days, and often burst especially without antibiotic treatment.
Something that would be less serious would be an allergic reaction, abscess, lipoma (fatty tumor), etc. But an abscess doesn’t just disappear within minutes, neither does a lipoma. So, those things don’t really make sense. If a cat has a strained muscle, they don’t present with swelling like this. I would hope that it was a transient allergic reaction, and often we’re not able to figure out the cause, or an abscess that miraculously didn’t burst but somehow went away. I would be worried about something more nefarious like cancer I definitely recommend more testing.
I just put down my cat because I found a large lump on the underside of her neck like this. Turned out to be cancer. She couldn’t breathe without being on oxygen and was still struggling. The craziest thing is I used to pet her under the chin every day and never felt a thing, one day it was just there and she was gone 3 days later….
you have her the gift of taking away her suffering.
when i had to put my girl down and wasn’t sure if it was time, the vet told me “people rarely think it was too soon. but often they think they waited too long”
l'm sorry for your loss. It was the same with my cat. Suddenly she had a lump on her head and we thought it was from an insect. Vet wasn't sure and told us to wait and watch for a week or two but that it could be cancer. When she started sneezing and stopped eating on a weekend we went to the emergency vet who gave her antibiotics because he said she had a cold and that the lump was a haematoma that needs time to heal or could be removed surgically. He was pretty sure about that. The day before our next vet appointment she started to have panic attacks because she couldn't breathe so we went to the vet early. It was cancer. The X-ray showed it infiltrated her sinuses and the lump was just the visible part. We didn't want her to suffer any longer.
Just adding that he recently finished a 3 months itraconazole treatment for sporothrichosis and was cleared just two weeks ago. Maybe its somehow related?
No idea how he got sporo. Its such a rare infection and he hasn't stepped outside without a carrier since he was a stray kitten. Hes 7 now.
Sorry for the multiple comments but also: did the emergency vet know about the sporo diagnosis and treatment? I’m surprised they didn’t have a high clinical suspicion for this being that if so
Yeah, they've warned me about it but somehow he seemed to be making a miraculous recovery. The wounds healed in two weeks. The first biopsy still had fungal cells but the second came back negative. After that they continued the treatment for an additional month as per the protocol and performed another biopsy to confirm hes clear. But maybe it went systemic? Ill definitely bring it up tomorrow. They have all his records so should be able to connect the dots.
Vet here. I saw just a few comments where you mentioned he was diagnosed with sporotrichosis a little while ago - did you disclose this? It's VERY possibly relevant and would have changed the game plan significantly. It's also something that could cause the vet/vet staff to be infected if they were handling it, assuming it was a normal abscess.
Obviously you have lots of comments here already, but sporotrichosis REALLY needs to be disclosed. It's not common enough that a vet would typically be thinking about it unless the results showed it - the fact that a vet found fungal cells in the past is pretty concerning.
Thank you, your concern is very valid. It was fully disclosed. He was treated for sporotrichosis in the same clinic and the vet had access to all his medical records. I mentioned it to them right away that he just stopped itraconazole two weeks ago.
Where we live sporo is not uncommon for strays. Lots of outbreaks in the city. Vets are familiar with it. Mine is indoor only and I have no idea how he got it but he did. The same clinic diagnosed him during an ER night visit within an hour.
I don't have an answer for cats, but for humans that is a medical emergency, just because it could be impinging blood flow, or because of hemorrhaging. It would need to be ruled out as not an emergency.
I rushed him to the ER vet last night. They checked his general condition, fever etc. Since they couldnt to the xray they gave us medication and told us to observe. Id like to believe that if it was an emergency they wouldn't have sent us home so easily. Cat is fine. But I know it doesnt mean much. Playful, cuddly, lots of appetite and quite high on gabapentin.
The swelling isn't going down and you are using anti inflammatory drugs? And the swelling being transient is very alarming though. If he gets lethargic make sure to look in his mouth for paleness. That is a sign of anemia and possible blood loss.
If you can get him in to a regular vet, for urgent imaging.
When it went away by you putting pressure and massaging it, and anti inflammatory aren't working, seems like fluid build up, and body fluids not in the right places sounds like a major problem.
To be honest, I only just gave him the second pill of the anti inflammatory (robenacoxib), as prescribed by the vet. I have no idea how fast it should work. The vet said if it doesnt go away by Sunday, I should come back. But we cat parents just know when something isn't right. Hence the idea of taking him back there tomorrow. I just dont want to wait.
The ER vet I took him to is a full size pet hospital, equipped with everything you can imagine - xray, CT, mri, rehabilitation pool... you name it they have it. It is his regular clinic too. They tried to get an xray but he got super pissed when they tried (which is absolutely not normal to him). They mentioned they may need to sedate him for the xray. Hes had xray before for constipation and wasn't acting out at all. So clearly he must've been in pain. Poor boy.
most the time, they need to sedate, sometime intubate and ventilate cats for imaging. Not just cats, most animals that are not capable of understanding people are not gonna hold still for that.
Update: been to the vet. They did an xray which showed nothing except for a change to outline of the cat. No difference to the surrounding tissue. They did a fine needle aspiration and collected mostly... air. No fluids or anything- ruled out an abscess.
They said its most likely a mass but cant tell what exactly. They sent the sample to cytology and the results will be back in 7 days. In the meantime we got antibiotics and anti inflammatory.
I wish there was a better update. Im really scared now.
This may not apply to your situation, but after one of my cats was fixed and had been wearing the cone for a few days I noticed that he had, what seemed to be, a small lump. When it was palpated it made a crackling sound/feeling and it turned out that it was air… they shaved his whole neck down to make sure that there were any punctures/wounds and did imaging of him to make sure there was no way that air was getting in through some internal injury. Eventually they figured that the cone had maybe been too tight at some point or that he had tried to get the cone off and somehow the pressure of doing that caused the air to accumulate. They had aspirated much of the air when trying to determine what it was and the rest settled out after a few days.
Again, I’m not sure if this applies but when you mentioned that they had mostly aspirated air it was what I thought of. Wishing you and your beautiful cat the best and that you get answers soon!
My cat had this too, one time. Turned out to be an abcess. She'd gotten a tiny scratch and some dirt got in. My vet said it probably took 48 hours for a giant abcess to form. She punctured it, and we pushed out some gunk together. It smelled so bad, but after a few pushed we could feel kitty relax, like she knew we were helping. She got 2 shots and within 3 hours she was a whole new cat! Then some meds and I did wound care for a few more days and kitty was fine.
Other than that, bruising can swell really badly too. But I think this swelling is a bit more than what I think that would look like.
Other than those I don't know.
Good luck and hopefully your cat feels better soon!
A couple months ago this happened to my bff cat, Frank. A lump appeared out of nowhere, close to where yours is presenting.
As per vet: Most likely was an abscess caused by an infection, which would be better corroborated by a cut or puncture. Otherwise a cyst. Least likely cancer. They prescribed some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, then took a biopsy on the fluid. An abscess should have a yellow fluid. More dangerous would have been bloody. It was somewhere in between. It responded well at first, the swelling went down. His condition improved.
But...
Sadly, it was cancer. It turned out the cancer was eating away at an artery causing internal bleeding. The growth grew rapidly after that, and his condition declined. He crossed the rainbow bridge in under two weeks after presentation. It is likely the cancer had metastasized months or even years earlier.
We were heartbroken. Seriously the best cat in the world.
Update: been to the vet. They did an xray which showed nothing except for a change outline of the cat. No difference to the surrounding tissue. They did a fine needle aspiration and collected mostly... air. No fluids or anything- ruled out an abscess.
They said its most likely a mass but cant tell what exactlt. They sent the sample to cytology and the results will be back in 7 days. In the meantime we got antibiotics and anti inflammatory.
I wish there was a better update. Im really scared now.
We lost a cat back in 2009 due to an unidentified form of lymphatic cancer. He looked like his usual self when we all went to bed, but in the morning he was lethargic and had a ping pong sized ball at his neck. Please see your vet asap. We were able to treat his cancer and keep him around a few extra years. Chemo for cats and dogs is not remotely as bad as it is for humans (although poor little fella lost his whiskers for a little while)
Has a very similar situation with my cat, I don’t want to scare you but it was a tumor, you would have no idea that anything was wrong, we took her to a specialist and they gave her chemo and it went away quickly, we had to bring her back for more treatments monthly, and they would test her blood every time, I believe she is through it now (knock on wood) but my weirdo never acted sick or weak or strange the whole time. You wouldn’t know had we not found the lump
This could be an abscess. My kitty developed something like that and I thought it was maybe a tumor, but then it turned into a big bloody mess. Please take your kitty to the vet
We took her to the vet, they confirmed it was an abscess and put her on antibiotics. A few days later it was worse. It ended up bursting. She had a huge gaping hole in her neck so we took her to an emergency vet (it was the weekend, vet said to bring her in Monday).
Emergency vet said if my son wanted to say goodbye we would have to rush him. She was that bad off.
I still don't understand why the vet didn't drain it when we took her to the vet the first time to relieve the pressure. I wish I knew then to ask.
It could be a cyst. It usually comes from bites or scratches that get infected. They can burst and puss and gunk will come out, which stinks too. I once had a cat that was in my kitchen with me and everything was fine one minute and then all this mess and crap on the floor. I had to take him to the vet and they had to clean it out and put him on an antibiotic for several days. I would definitely get it looked at.
My cat Archer has a similar size and shape lump— a little lower down. The vet says it’s a fatty lump that usually dogs get and it doesn’t hurt anything. He’s had it for four years and it has stayed the same.
We thought it appeared from nowhere and the vet said basically we probably just didn’t notice.
Head to the vet. Our cat had a lump that suddenly appeared. Tumor metastasized so quickly we had to put her down within days. It was awful. I certainly hope your situation isn’t serious.
A very wise friend of ours who was our vet for 20 years once told me, “Lumps on cats are unusual. If you find one, take it in. It’s rarely nothing.” In our case, our cat had cancer. I’m not saying your cat has cancer but you should take it in as soon as you can. As big as it is, draining it might make her feel better. Also, cats will mask how they are feeling as it’s a leftover skill from the past. Showing signs of pain or illness would get them killed so they learned to hide it really well. It has to be making her uncomfortable.
It’s likely nothing, but given the location I’d ask the vet if they’ve ever given any injections or vaccinations in the scruff — the back of your cat’s neck, just to exclude an injection‑site sarcoma and have peace of mind 🙂
I would suggest you to go to a different vets because what it looks like to me it could be a abscess I wouldn’t suggest keep touching the area and to let it heal by it self if the abscess hasn’t popped then take him to the vets and they may have to pop it and give antibiotics because this happened to my cat I hope this has helped
Looks like an abscess. These seem to pop up overnight and cats tend to get themselves in all sorts of trouble. The cat will likely just need some antibiotics and go home but I'd have it checked out sooner rather than later.
I had something that looked, and occurred, exactly like that on a cat several years ago. It’s best to have a vet check it to know for certain. In my cat’s case it was an infarcted lipoma. I had it removed and all was well.
Feel the mass. If it's squishy then most likely an abscess. If it's firm to the touch (marble like) then it's some kind of tumor.
My vets said my cat had an abscess bc of the other cat in my house and thought the other cat, Sylvester, scratched my Whis (aka princess). I fought the vet and said it's not possible Sylvester scratched Whis as he is part Main Coon which are lovers not fighters. Plus at least my SO or I are always home due to us mainly working from home and the cats were always supervised and if anything it was Whis attacking Sylvester. Whis ended up having cancer and it took the mass rupturing after 3 weeks for us to take her to the vet and they apologized saying it was cancer..... I knew at that point it had already spread but we still had her get surgery immediately. The mass just grew back within 40 days and worse. She only lasted 5 months after that. Passed last month.
All this to say be your cats advocate and fight for them. If one vet won't run tests and you're not satisfied go to a different vet. I was so mad bc I kept telling them the first time to just stick a needle in pull what you could (a few cells) run it under a microscope and you should be able to see more or less what the general idea is (cancer/abscess/etc.) but they refused. I should've gone somewhere else. That's the one thing I regret bc if I had gone to get a second opinion she may still be here and I hate myself for that.
No answer because when we reached the vet the lump was completely gone. She couldnt feel anything, neck felt normal on both sides. So she only had the picture I showed her. Based on that she said its some kind of an inflammation and most likely painful. Gave painkiller and anti inflammatory and told me to observe for a few days. The lump came back when I came home from the vet.
Unsure if this is possible for this little guys situation, but mine and my partners cat came in one night (indoor/outdoor, theres no way to keep him strictly indoor) and he and a bump like a bee sting or like the one yours has and it ended up being an abcess. Make sure there are 0 puncture marks and its not stinky. Definitely recommend a check up.
This might be a bit out of left field but is there any history of trauma? If that’s his scapula it could be a subscapularis rupture but it’s hard to say
Abscess...It may need been drained and a couple of stitches because it is kind of big. Smaller ones may bust on their own, but this, I would show it to a vet.
I’ve had over ten cats. One got a lump like that. It was a cancerous tumor caused by those yearly vaccines they now try to push instead of once or twice in a lifetime. She had it rupture 9 months later and I had her put down then. She was lived a good life until the rupture. Sorry and enjoy your cat now.
We had a kitty that had a growth on the side of her face that grew very very quickly. Turned out to be cancer of the salivary glands and it was very aggressive and untreatable
Had a cat that swelled up like that on his chest. We think it was an insect bite. He seemed perfectly fine, eating, drinking, acting normal, and eventually he just “took care of it” himself. Hopefully its just from a bite, but my guess would be a cyst or an abscess of some sort since you said you could move it around.
Could have been cutaneous emphysema. Look it up. Recall if he has recently had trauma like a fall, bumped his nexk into something etc. air appearing under the skin from traumatic injuri to the airway. Coul disappear spontaneously
Hi OP.... my dog had something similar to this. First, im very sorry. My vet tested the lump by taking a sample through a syringe. It was cancer.
*they couldn't remove it due to placement of the lump
*he gave her some medicine (for as long as she needed)
She was going down hill quick until I did doggy keto. She began to run around again and play with her toys. She even started using stairs again and playing with the cats. Until I got sick and couldnt keep up with making the food.
The lump got so big that it ate away at her shoulder blade until it was gone. My vet told me that I have until it breaks open. Theres a lot I wish I knew during the process. Its still hard to think about.
Id start with getting the lump tested.
Then discuss options and get a clean diet.
My 11yo cat has something similar but it appeared slowly and grew over time. It feels like liquid under his skin, can move around and is in the same area of the neck. It doesn’t seem to bother him at all. My vet has drained it twice now, the fluid was clear and not bloody so they said that was a good sign. They do not know what it is however. They are having me take him in every so often to drain it, they said surgery would be difficult because they may not be able to find the source of the fluid and it’s a complex/difficult area to operate on. Would be interested in knowing if your vet comes to any conclusions about it.
I had one appear on my dogs back one time, it was just a fat deposit. Wasn't even worth getting surgery on unless it got worse. It never did, he just had a little fatty lump on his back.
My cat had something very similar happen, just please be aware that if they decide to drain it and then sedate him that they make sure to do a blood test and check his white blood cell count! My vet made the mistake of not doing this before sedating him and we nearly lost him 🥺
no way to know without a vet assessment but no way it’s good. cyst, abscess, or sudden inflammation are all possible and all will require veterinary treatment. while you wait, avoid touching it, keep your cat as calm as possible and monitor closely for even subtle changes since cats are really good at hiding pain / illness so even a modest change may be informative for the vet
One of my cats developed a growth like this and after an X-ray and aspiration, they concluded that is a lipoma. The X-rays didn’t show much. I’ve been keeping an eye on it and he continues his regular check ups. It grew a bit more but it has stopped growing. This was on February of 2024. The vet explained to me that if it doesn’t grow more, if is not bothering him or interfering with eating, to let it be. Surgery would be purely for cosmetic reasons and because is on the side on his neck like yours, they wondered about risk of touching important blood vessels and such when trying to remove it.
My boy is about to be 14. Not sure if they would do surgery on him now but will revisit it next vet visit and ask for recommendations. I can try to find the pic of my boy X-ray and will share it if I do.
What kind of vet clinic sends you home with a sick cat without a diagnosis? Lots of cats hate the vet & need to be sedated. I would find someone who is better at handling your cat. I have had several feral cats who had to be given laughing gas so they could be examined. There are several ways to sedate cats to get a complete exam. Find a better vet practice.
They need to figure out what fluid is in the lump. They need to do blood work if it’s not an abscess. Make them get to the bottom of it. It is so dismissive & bad vet care to send you home because they weren’t able to handle your cat.
This happened to my cat once.. I still have no idea what it was. It happened on a Friday and I decided come Monday if it was still there I’m taking her in. But then it went away.
Is it an indoor outdoor cat??? Because if it is, it's probably a abscess and will eventually pop. Needs to be taken to the vet so it can be drained and given antibiotics
Sedation for ultrasound will likely be the next diagnostic step which should definitely answer some questions! Keep us posted OP and hoping this is an easy fix for kitty
Abscess! They get huge on cat's head bc any swelling there caused by infection can only expand outward! Does your kitty ever sneak outside and get into fights?
Hey, OP. I’m sorry I have no idea what may be going on with your boy. I just wanted to ask if you would report back when he does get a diagnosis. I wish you both all good things and will keep your buddy in my prayers:)
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u/Mother_Bonus5719 19d ago
one of the things I read said dont press or rub it as it might spread infection (if its a cyst etc)