Question:
My 4-year-old longhaired apricot tabby, Roxy, has developed a rapidly growing cancerous tumor on her right rear leg. It has gone from the size of a grape to the size of a baseball in just four weeks. I'm told the only option is to amputate the leg, which I am not really in favor of as there is no guarantee that this will cure her. I would really hate to put her through that if it won't cure her.The vet told me that it could have been caused by her rabies vaccination. How common is this? If I get another kitten sometime in the future, how will I know it won't happen again?.
L.T., Alexandria, Va Sep 19, 2004
Answer:
I am sorry to hear about your cat's affliction, which could, as your veterinarian suggests, be the result of an injection. Cats can develop this kind of cancer following a rabies vaccination or other injection, and the only treatment is, indeed, amputation. And there is no guarantee that the cancer has not already spread to internal organs. Chemotherapy may or may not help after the leg is amputated.Some veterinarians advise giving only the canary pox vectored rabies vaccination to cats -- it's considered safer than other types. Also, injecting the vaccine under the shaved skin one-third of the way down a cat's tail may be preferable, because if cancer develops at the vaccination site tail amputation would be less traumatic and less costly.
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