"We're seeing a lot of weird lumps on cats"

[spinbaby]

I took one of my cats to the vet yesterday with what I though was an abscess. It turned out that it wasn't an abscess but a tumor of some kind--he's getting it out next week.

What I found alarming is that the vet said they were seeing a lot of weird skin lumps that were unheard of 20 years ago. Really makes you wonder what's going on.

[Madrone]

1. The food.

I think we're seeing a lot of different health problems in pets now that were seen rarely, if ever, before.

I've researched the pet food industry and I think I know why. :puke:

[spinbaby]

3. Tell me why

We feed dry food plus Fancy Feast.

[Madrone]

4. Hey Spinbaby -

Here is one excellent article to start with....

http://www.belfield.com/article3.html

If I find more I'll add them to this post, but I'm also getting ready for work so I may not have time to do a lot of searching.


I will quickly say that I discovered how terrible commercial pet food is about 3-4 years ago and immediately switched my cats to different food - but they're older. In the last year I've had 2 of 3 cats diagnosed with serious health problems - one is in kidney failure, and the other has diabetes. It may be partially due to genetics, but I also believe I helped contribute to those problems via my food choices for them over the years.


Going to have to get ready for work now - but if you have other questions I may be able to get to them this evening.

have a great day!

[kedrys]

2. My oldest cat developed a pretty big lump a few years back

One surgery and $500 bucks later, come to find out it was a lipoma (fatty tissue tumor). Common in dogs, rare in cats, but the vet said it was the second cat in a week she'd seen with one.

Caesar has since developed 4 other, much smaller, lumps. Biopsies show that they are all small lipomas. Since they're benign, they're not getting larger, and none pinch any nerves, the vet decided not to operate further.

We pet him and brush him all the time, and the lumps are definitely not painful, so go fig. The lumps are so small that you have to pet him to be able to tell he's, er, lumpy.

[ET Awful]

5. I highly recommend reading this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

Some VERY good information about pet food and what's actually in it, etc.

Also some great recommendations for alternatives to your typical grocery store brands.

[lizziegrace]

6. Vaccination sites are also places where tumors are being found.

There's a lot of information out there if you search it.

[myrna minx]

7. Does anyone know about Hill's prescription food?

I feed my kitty the W/D cuz he's a little portly. I would think if it needs to be purchased at the Vet, it couldn't be all that horrible? :shrug: