Vet told me to leave the little lump I found

[Nina_marcey1991]

Vet said to leave lump I found on cat, does this seem good advice?

I have been worried for a few days a tiny nodule I found under my cats skin, he is 3 and I am worried about mammary cancer. I took him to the vet today and he said he is pretty certain it is some sort of scar tissue (my cat has had a lot of cat scratches) or fatty tissue and to watch it and come back if it grows. He said there is no point doing a fine needle aspiration as it’s so tiny it probably wouldn’t work and I’d be throwing my money away. Do you think this is fair advice? He said if my cat was older he would be more concerned and then recommend the lump is removed. He said he would be very surprised if it was mammary cancer but of course can never say for sure.

The only part that worries me is if it is something if I leave it it could spread? Or am I being silly? Tia

[fjm]

I would go with your vet's sensible advice - find a way of gently measuring the lump without squeezing it (perhaps loop a piece of soft thread round it not too tightly, if he will let you, and measure the thread, or find a bead or button the same size and keep it somewhere safe) then check every week to make sure it is not growing. Even if it grows there are many perfectly harmless things it might be - cyst, benign tumour, fatty lump, etc, etc - all of them much more likely than mammary cancer in a young male cat. It is called watchful waiting - either the lump will get a little bigger and your vet will be able to aspirate it and put your mind at rest, or it won't, and eventually you will be able to ignore it. You are not being silly, but at this stage the small risk from an anaesthetic to remove what is most probably a harmless lump is almost certainly greater than any risk from the lump itself. Your vet is being ethical as well as sensible in not advising a procedure they believe to be unnecessary.