Conference misery::feline_v1

    I seem to recollect that it's moving around easily is a good thing
    -- means its a cyst or something easily removable, as opposed to
    something bad.  Please let us know what happens tonight.
    

    By all means check with the vet, but I suspect it is no problem.
    
    Just before we were leaving for the Philadelphia show (why, oh
    why is the timing always so dreadful???) I noticed a lump between
    Frosty's shoulder blades and rushed him to the vet.  It moved around
    under the skin and didn't bother him at all.  The vet was pretty
    sure that it was just an inflammation from a vaccine he had recently
    had, but he [the vet] extracted some cells to examine.  That confirmed
    that it was an inflammation, not an infection, and not, thank goodness,
    anything cancerous.  I guess it might take a while to slowly fade
    away, as his body absorbs the "stuff."  If there had been a high
    white blood cell count, we would just have put him on an antibiotic
    to help him fight off the localized infection.
    
    Good luck, and let us know what you find out,
    
    	Penelope and Frosty

    
    We discovered a lump on Sandy's back around the shoulder blades
    when she was about 4 months old.  We were taking her in to be spayed
    and declawed at 6 months so the vet (Dr. Peduzzi at Stow Animal
    Hospital at the time) said since it wasn't bothering her, he would
    take care of it when she was already under for her other surgery.
    He removed the lump, spayed her and took out her front claws all
    in one surgery.  He said the lump was nothing to worry about, just
    a growth right under the skin that was not cancer or anything bad.
    She looked like a patchwork quilt until her fur grew back on her
    tummy and back, but she hasn't had anymore lumps since then.
    
    Don't lose any sleep over your kitty's lump, but do let us know
    what the vet says.
    
    Susan

    How long ago was the vaccination given?  Smurf developed a lump
    which was pretty easy to move around a day or two after he was
    vaccinated - right between the shoulderblades.  I called the vet
    and they said that it was the vaccine and it would take a few days
    to break down and it would vanish - and it did.
    
    cathy

    It doesn't hurt to be careful and make sure the kitty is OK, but
    it is probably from the shots.  Nebula has a lump on her shoulder today;
    she always does after she gets her shots (The Fickle doesn't have
    nearly as bad a reaction to them for some reason), but it goes away
    in a few days, less than a week.  She was really sore the evening
    after she got the shots, as I said in some other note; I could
    sympathize with the poor critter after how sick I got from that
    typhoid vaccination last spring.  I'm glad I got it in the left
    arm, since I am right handed, or I might as well have stayed home
    - I could hardly move my arm for about three days!

Hi Everyone --

  Thanks for all the support -- and many of you were very accurate -- the
bump was caused by his latest vaccination -- the vet said it was a
reaction to it and that it will slowly get smaller but probably never go
away completely.

  I had never encountered anything like this with any of our other furry
faces and was a little worried -- naturally, when I first walked out of
the vet's I felt like an over concerned Mom, but when I think about what
the possibilities could have been, I felt very justified for taking him.

  BTW -- the vet didn't charge me for the office call either.  

		Thanks again
  

re: all

My wife and I are breeders, and also show cats.  We, too, have had the 
experience of 'lumps' after vaccinations, and we really can't afford this 
happening with show cats.

When we asked around, we were told that this kind of reaction happens 
up to 50% of the time!

Our solution was to find a brand of vaccine that minimized these problems 
for us, and do our own vaccinations.  Our personal preference is to use 
killed vaccines.  We've not yet seen this problem when doing our own.

(Doing our own also saves us a good bit of money - twice a year for the 
show cats, once a year for the ones who stay home, and two or three each 
for babies before they're placed add up to a large expense for just 
vaccinations.)

Ray

    re: .8 and showing "cats with lumps and bumps"...
    
    Frosty Man's bump on the back of his neck is finally starting
    to shrink.  I never had this happen before, and I assume (now)
    that it must have been from a vaccination he got just before
    he was shipped to us.
    
    I was really afraid that the judges at the last show would
    disqualify (or subtract points) him because of a "defect" so
    I had a note from the vet stating that the lump had been
    examined visually and cytologically and it was NOT infectious,
    contagious, or neoplastic (cancerous).
    
    To my surprise, not one of the six judges seemed to notice it,
    or if they did, they did not comment on it.  And he beat out
    an older champion (this was Frosty's first adult show) to
    take 2nd best of breed (of 4 cats) several times... so it
    couldn't have been held against him too badly if it was 
    noticed (the "best of breed" went to the cat that will probably
    be the best or 2nd best Russian Blue in the *country* this
    year!).
    
    I wonder why this one caused a lump, and I have never seen
    that happen in several years with several cats...
    
    	Penelope

    AAArghh, last night I noticed a small lump between Holly's shoulder
    blades.  She had her latest vaccinations three weeks ago, and she's
    racing around the house like a terror, so I'm assuming it's the
    vaccination lump already described here.  She's going into the vet
    today just in case.
    

    Holly,
    
    Tell Mom by all means to check with the vet just to be sure.
    But don't worry too much.  Even if they *say* that these yucky
    vaccination bumps appear shortly after the vaccine (hah!  Mine
    took almost a month, which made the humans all pretty nervous at
    first), they can take a lot longer.  And conversely, my vet told
    my Mom that my bump might take months -- MONTHS, and I'm a *show*
    cat! -- to s_l_o_w_l_y disappear, within about a month it was
    hardly noticeable...and even when it was pretty big, not one of
    those silly human judges even noticed it!
    
    Back to the rump, I say.  Never got a lump there, nor did any of
    my friends and family members!
    
    meow,
    	  Frosty

    Karen and Penelope,
    
    	Just to let you know that you caught me just a little bit off
    guard with the last two replies.  Karen, every time you put in a note 
    about Holly the cat it tickles me a little bit.  I think "Wait a
    minute, I don't have a lump between my shoulder blades.":-)
    
    Holly (the person)
    

    
    
    re:  .12
    
    Holly, 
    
    Are you sure?  When did you last have your shots ;^D 
    
    Marion
    

    Re: .12
    
    Holly has considered this point previously, and she said that Holly
    the person is welcome to use her name, since she is such a good cat
    person.
    

    RE: .13  Yes, I'm sure.  I had my shots a while ago and I'm not
    due for a booster shot until May. :-)
    
    RE: .14  I am very glad that Holly has decided that I am welcome
    to use her name, what an honor to be named after a such a cat as
    Holly.
    
    Holly

    Whew, it was a "vaccination lump".  Holly the cat has some antibiotic
    to take for two weeks, so it doesn't turn into an abscess.  It's
    not really clear to me what these things are -- the substitute vet
    was in today and she doesn't explain very well -- some debris gets
    carried in from the skin with the injection and causes an infection,
    but something weirder than just a straight infection, since she
    said it might take months to go away?  She also said it was _very_
    rare -- next to unheard of in cats.  So much for vets with no access
    to FELINE notes!
    

    Karen,
    
    	I am glad to hear that it was only a "Vaccination lump" that 
    Holly the cat had.  I have never had that problem with any of my 
    cats.  I am sure that I would be just as worried.  Glad to hear
    that my counterpart is all right.
    
    Holly