(Sorry for the bad photo. It was pre-digital)
Twenty years ago last month I lost my Maine Coon-like cat, Lando Calrissian to mast cell tumors (MCT). He was 19 years old. I find this ironic because that’s exactly what Gooseberry’s tumor is. 
(Gooseberry-left-and brother Strawberry-right)
Lando was one in a litter of six kittens. Three of his brothers developed muscular dystrophy but he remained robust. At age ten I found the first MCT, a tiny little bump on his cheek and a few smaller ones around his ear but we had them removed anyway. The pathologist named them MCTs and told me that if he didn’t have another one in the next year he should be okay. Just one year later I found another tiny bump. Once again it was a MCT and once again I received the same directive, if he had another one within a year he would probably continue to have more. I sometimes wonder if the fact that his first ones were multiples should have been a clue that he would have more.
Lando continued to have more tumors show up. But finally it all caught up with him. We found mast cells in his blood and tumors on his liver. We started him on chemotherapy. Though he finally died of MCT he had lived to the ripe old age of 19 so that’s not bad.
Lando’s brother Zeit Geist also had a MCT when he was about 12 years old but that was it. He never had another one. That’s what I’m hoping for Gooseberry. His MCT didn’t show up until he was 11 years old so maybe that’s a good sign. I can always hope.
Have any of your cats had MCTs? If so, what did you do?
This is a Sunday Selfies blog hop. Our host is https://thecatonmyhead.com/
