My cat is sick, lethargic, has belly lumps. Should I see a vet?

She sounds pretty sick, and I'm concerned about her symptoms, especially that she is losing weight really fast. This is not something that can be treated at home, she needs to see a vet immediately. Please take her into one now.

I'm sorry to hear that your cat isn't doing terribly well. There are several different possibilities here. One is that his weight loss is completely unrelated to the masses. As cats get older, they're more likely to develop conditions like hyperthyroidism or kidney disease, which can lead to weight loss. While neither of these conditions can be "cured," both can be managed to some degree with certain medications or diet. The other possibility is, as you mentioned, that these masses could be cancerous. I completely understand not wanting to pursue extensive treatment for cancer, but before making the assumption that it is cancer, I'd try to get some more information. For starters, I think it's perfectly reasonable to take your cat to the vet for an exam and some bloodwork to check his organ function. There's a chance that your vet may find something that's not terribly difficult to manage, but you don't know unless you look. I would expect that your vet would recommend trying to diagnose the masses in order to be thorough, but if you are clear that you don't want to look into them further, it shouldn't be an issue. At the end of the day, you own your cat and are responsible for making choices for him. Your vet's job is to present those choices to you and help you to find the approach that works best for you and your cat. I hope this helps and that everything goes well.

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although a picture of the lump would help to give you more specific answers, this growth should be ideally examined by your veterinarian to have a definitive diagnosis. Your vet will examine it and possibly perform with an FNA (fine needle aspiration) or a biopsy. Differentials would include skin cyst, infections or benign or malignant type of tumors. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

I"m sorry Cat isn't doing well! I would take him back into a vet today for blood tests and a urinalysis. These tests will check his organ functioning to see what could be causing his symptoms. It is concerning that he isn't improving, and he does need a recheck today. As for the hard lumps, these could be hives from an allergic reaction, but without seeing him in persons, I can't say for certain. It would be a good idea to have these checked out by a vet as well.

A huge lump on his neck could be an abscess, a blicked salivary duct, inflamed or infected salivary gland, a cyst, a tumor, or a swollen lymph node. This needs to be examined by your veterinarian who will likely want to take a bit of tissue or check if and what kind of fluid is in the lump. He will do this with a very thin needle (painless) to determine what kind of mass or lump there is. Not eating is dangerous for a cat as this can cause liver disease in cats in addition to the original cause. Please take your kitty to a veterinarian for an exam today.

Hello! This depends on how long the lumps have been present for. If they have been slowly growing (over a few weeks/months), then they could be some sort of skin tumour. If they just came recently (ie the last few days), it could be an abscess (which is an infection, trapped under the skin.) Would you be able to take Luna to see a vet? They would be able to examine him, and determine what type of lumps they are, and whether he can be helped with medication, or surgery. You can clean the area that he is bleeding from with warm water and a clean cloth.

Hello, sorry to hear about Nathan. If he has a bump on his abdomen and has a fever, then she may need to be seen on emergency basis. That bump can indicate an abscess or a tumor both of which can cause a fever. Based on your cats age I think its more likely to be an abscess. Other causes of this include things such as FIP, FeLV or FIV as well as mouth infections. Nathan should be evaluated by his veterinarian to make sure he does not have any major infection or abscess that is causing this. Hope this helps and best of luck.