The Patient:
Gonzo is a newer patient of ours; he is a 7 year old neutered domestic shorthair cat. Grey/Black tabby to be exact! Weighing in at about 9 pounds... He splits his time between the indoors and outdoors. Mr. brought in Gonzo in late August for a funky looking toe that seemed to have been causing Gonzo some pain and general discomfort.
The Case:
Gonzo’s family brought him in for his initial visit with us due to a blistering little spot near the paw, as well as some blood. It seemed to have been bugging the little guy since his parents reported that he was sleeping just a bit more than usual. Luckily, Gonzo’s vitals looked perfect but the irritated spot on the paw was noticed right away during his physical exam. The mass was imbedded between the claw and the pad of the front left hind paw, measuring in at about 1-2 centimeters. Gonzo’s amazing parents approved of an FNA (fine needle aspiration) so we could collect a sample and see if the cells are normal or abnormal. This will dictate the future treatment plan!
The Treatment Plan:
On the day of Gonzo’s first visit with us, we did standard age appropriate bloodwork, which came back great! We did this for a couple reasons- one, because his parents are amazing and they wanted gold standard veterinary care, and two, we also knew we would most likely want this kiddo to undergo a surgical procedure, and we do require bloodwork here before any anesthesia to ensure the pet is low risk for any complications while under.
On the 19th of September, Gonzo came in for a toe amputation surgery, and his loving parents gave us the okay to have it biopsied so we would know if the growth was benign or malignant. Gonzo healed up beautifully from the surgery while we awaited the results, which did come back as a form of cancer called fibrosarcoma. The good news, however, was that the by removing the full toe, we got clean margins which means the cancer was 100% removed! This lil guy came back to us for one more recheck and is now living his best cancer-free life!