Winger: Not so good news

Winger went to the vet today to get some fluid drained from under his incision. He’s healing really well, probably because I’ve made him keep the cone on.

The results are back from the histopathologist. It was a mast cell tumor (cancer). They are rated on a scale from 1 to 4, with 4 being the worst. His was a 2a. The analysis of the margins show that not all of it was removed.

The vet said if it was a 4 he’d reoperate right away, but being where it is, it would be difficult to get wider margins because there is only so much skin available on the back of the head. For now he suggests we wait and see if it grows back. Winger is 11.5 so that plays a factor as well.

I had the vet take a sample of small lump Winger’s had for a long time in the skin over his shoulder. I should know tomorrow if it is the same thing. If it is, it’ll be much easier to remove when it’s small and not large and bleeding so bad as this one was.

I suspect I’ll be googling ‘mast cell’ all afternoon!

Update:
Here are two good links if you want to read more about mast cell cancer:
http://www.kateconnick.com/library/mastcelltumor.html
http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/mct.htm