If your cat has suddenly started refusing to eat and acting uncomfortable around the mouth, there could be a number of reasons for this change. In most cases, these signs are caused by treatable dental disease.
However, in some cases, mouth pain and reluctance to eat may be caused by oral tumors. Finding, diagnosing, and treating oral tumors requires working with your cat’s veterinarian.
Quick Facts: Oral Cancer in Felines
other names: Salivary Gland Carcinoma
common symptoms: Pain and swelling of upper neck, base of ears or upper lip, excessive drooling, bad breath, loss of appetite, difficulty swallowing, proptosis, sneezing, hoarseness/voice change.
diagnosis: Head/skull and/or dental X-rays, CT or MRI imaging, biopsy of affected tissue. Other X-ray studies and ultrasounds may be used to evaluate for spread to other parts of the body.
diagnosed as a cat: rare
need to continue taking medication: No
available vaccines: No
Treatment programs: Surgical resection of tumor tissue. Follow-up radiation therapy is also used.
home remedies: not any
What is feline oral cancer (feline oral squamous cell carcinoma)?
Oral cancer accounts for approximately 10 percent of feline cancer cases and is the third most common site of cancer in cats. Oral cancer can cause unwanted swelling or other lesions to form in the mouth, along the gums, roof of the jaw (palate), or throat. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common oral cancer in cats.
Causes of Oral Cancer in Felines
The most common type of oral cancer is squamous cell carcinoma. These account for about 70 percent of oral tumors in cats.
There are several different types of tumors that can grow in a cat’s mouth. Not all of these tumors are cancerous. Oral lumps in cats can be caused by inflammation, infection, or even trauma.
By far the most common oral cancer in cats is squamous cell carcinoma. Approximately 70% of feline oral tumors are squamous cell carcinomas.
These tumors grow from the lining of the mouth, including the gums, tongue, palate, and tonsils. Squamous cell carcinomas are an important medical problem because they are often locally invasive. Although they seldom metastasize (distant spread), they frequently invade the underlying fascia (mandible and maxilla), making complete resection difficult.
Other common causes of oral tumors in cats are fibrosarcoma, osteosarcoma, and odontogenic tumors. Fibrosarcoma arises in the connective tissue inside the mouth, usually in the jawbone. Osteosarcoma arises only in bone tissue, such as the jaw. Odontogenic tumors originate in the tissue that makes up the tooth.
No one knows why some cats develop oral tumors. It is suspected that environmental pollutants such as cigarette smoke and chemicals found in flea collars may play a role; however, this has not been proven.
Oral Cancer Symptoms
While some oral cancers are visible, other symptoms may indicate oral cancer, including bad breath and difficulty eating.
Oral tumors are painful, especially when eating. Often the first sign of an oral tumor is a reluctance to eat, accompanied by weight loss. Some cats may experience pain while chewing, but in many cases owners attribute the loss of appetite to nausea, the need to change food, or other factors. Cats don’t always show the obvious signs of pain you’d expect, such as pawing at their mouths or acting uncomfortable.
In many cases, growing oral tumors begin to bleed. You may notice that your cat is drooling thick, sticky, bloodshot saliva. You may also notice small drops of bloody saliva around your cat’s food and water bowls, on your cat’s bed, or anywhere else your cat likes to rest. Your cat may have blood on his front paws as he tries to clean his mouth of bloody saliva.
As the oral tumor continues to grow, you may notice that your cat has bad breath, or halitosis. Your cat’s body may also start to smell bad as saliva spreads throughout the body with grooming.
It is important to note that all of these symptoms may also be related to dental disease. Inflamed gums and tooth infections can also lead to difficulty eating, mouth bleeding and bad breath. The only way to distinguish dental disease from oral tumors is a thorough veterinary examination.
Diagnosis of Oral Cancer in Felines
Mouth tumors can be spotted in one of two ways. Tumors are usually caught early, during routine veterinary care. This is ideal because it is more effective when the tumor is smaller. In other cases, however, oral tumors are not detected until the mass causes overt clinical signs and negatively impacts the cat’s quality of life.
The first step in diagnosing oral cancer is a thorough physical examination, including an oral exam.
Your veterinarian may take a peek in the mouth while your cat is awake, but a thorough examination will require sedation or general anesthesia.
In most cases, your veterinarian will recommend general anesthesia, as this not only allows for an inspection of the mouth, but also allows your veterinarian to address any problems that may be found during the examination (whether it is a lump or a diseased tooth that needs to be extracted).
Before anesthesia, your veterinarian will perform a pre-anesthesia blood test. This blood test allows your veterinarian to look for underlying conditions that may be affecting your cat’s anesthesia.
Based on the results of the blood tests, your veterinarian will create a detailed treatment plan for your cat. Your cat will receive a combination of injectable and inhaled anesthetic delivered through a breathing tube.
Once your cat is anesthetized, your veterinarian can perform a thorough oral examination, looking for oral tumors or any other abnormalities.
Anytime a lump is found in the mouth, even during a routine dental cleaning, it should be biopsied. If the mass is small, it may be removed during biopsy. However, oral masses often cannot be completely removed in one operation if the tumor is large in size.
Instead, your veterinarian will only remove a small portion of the mass for review by a pathologist, and then plan further treatment based on the biopsy results.
Biopsy results are usually available about a week after surgery.
Your veterinarian will call you with these results and discuss further recommended treatments.
If your cat has been diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma, next steps may include checking for metastases, such as fine-needle aspiration, x-rays, and computed tomography (CT scans) of your cat’s lymph nodes to check for metastases. There is transfer. Evaluate cats for bone involvement in masses.
Depending on the results of these staging tests, your veterinarian may refer you to the oncology department of a local veterinary referral hospital.
Oral Cancer Treatment and Prognosis
The prognosis for cats with oral cancer depends on the type of tumor involved and how advanced it is at the time of diagnosis.
Treatment and prognosis for feline oral cancer depends on two factors: the type of tumor involved and how advanced the tumor is at the time of diagnosis.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma usually has a poor prognosis regardless of treatment. According to North Carolina State University, cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma survive an average of two to four months with treatments including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
Fewer than 10 percent of cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma survive a year. In general, cats whose tumors are diagnosed and treated early have a better prognosis than cats whose cancer is diagnosed later.
Other oral tumors, such as fibrosarcoma, osteosarcoma, and odontogenic tumors, are expected to survive longer than squamous cell carcinomas. The first step in treating these tumors is usually surgery, which may be followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy.
In some cases, palliative radiation therapy can be used to keep the cat comfortable and prolong its life, even when the cancer is incurable.
in conclusion
If your cat shows signs of an oral tumor, prompt diagnosis and treatment are critical. While squamous cell carcinoma has a poor prognosis, other oral tumors can exist, too, and early diagnosis means you’re more likely to be treated successfully.
frequently asked questions
How long can cats live with oral cancer?
There are several different types of oral cancer, each with a different prognosis. The most common type of oral cancer in cats is squamous cell carcinoma, with a median survival time of two to four months after treatment.
What does cancer in a cat’s mouth look like?
Oral cancer in felines can vary greatly in appearance, depending on the type of cancer and how advanced the cancer is. In most cases, oral cancer appears as swelling of the gums, lower jaw, upper jaw (palate), or tonsils.
How common is oral cancer in cats?
Oral tumors are relatively common in cats. While not all oral tumors are cancerous, approximately 10 percent of feline cancer cases are oral cancers.
What Causes Oral Cancer in Cats?
No one has definitively determined the cause of oral cancer in cats. It has been suspected that environmental pollutants may have played a role, especially given how often cats lick their fur, but this has not been proven.
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