Storm's Story
This month's Big Bear Award goes to Storm! Storm is a lovely 11 year old Siamese.
Storm has been through a lot in his life, has a history of getting into cat fights and is always coming in for treatment.
Earlier this year he came in due to a decrease in appetite, weight loss, and a small mass on the side of his face.
Storm's owners were concerned as the mass on the face was getting bigger so they brought him in to see our vet. The vet carried out a FNA (Fine needle asprite) of the mass to be sent off to the lab. The results came back confirming that Storm has Salivary Gland Adenocarcinoma.
About Andenocarcinoma (mouth cancer)
Saliva contains useful enzymes in the digestive process. There are four major salivary glands: mandibular, sublingual, parotid and zygomatic glands. In Storm, the one that was affected was the mandibular. The mandibular gland can be highly metastatic and can metastasie into other organs and tissues in the body. Unfortunately, Siamese cats are at a higher risk and also cats that are older than 8 years.
Signs to look out for are:
- weight loss
- poor appetite
- Halitosis ( bad breath)
- Sneezing
- Difficulty swallowing
On this diagnosis Storm has gone through lots of tests, has had an operation to remove the mass and also chemotherapy.
Here is a photo of Storm after his operation... still happily playing with his toys!
After the first treatment of chemotherapy however, the wound unfortunately was not healing very well and the mass started to grow back.
Storm was referred to Fitzpatricks oncologist and they recommended to have surgery again to remove the mass, and to try him on a different type of chemotherapy.
Almost a year on from his treatment - Storm is fighting fit! He is doing very well and no signs of any cancer growing back!
Storm has to come in for regular visits for blood tests and examinations to ensure everything is within normal limits. Throughout all of his treatment, Storm has been such a brave cat and a star patient. He is so good and will just sit there and let us do what we need to do! All of us at Vet4life are very happy with his recovery, as are his loving family. We are delighted to give Storm a Big Bear Award!
Here he is with his "step kittens"...