Fibrosarcoma and cat vaccinations

[spikedance]

Hi,

My cat just went through successful cancer surgery and is recovering now. The oncologist told me that it was possibly from either a leukemia or rabies shot. What I didn't find out was what would be the longest length of time between the shot and the occurence of cancer? Would it show up in a year after the vaccine, a month, 2 years. Does anyone know?

Thanks,
SPKDNC

[Brandy7]

I'm sorry that your cat has been poorly, I hope he/she makes a full recovery soon.

According to an article in the Canadian Veterinary Journal, Sarcomas have been reported as having developed between 3 months and 11 years after a cat has been given a vaccination.

It also states that the prevalence is believed to be somewhere between 1 in 2000 and 1 in 4000 in vaccinated cats. I have never been made aware of any risk when my cats have had their jabs.

The full article can be found here

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=13677599

[spikedance]

Brandy 7 - Thanks for your response. The oncologist told me to look into who gave him which shot. The initial surgeon asked why my cat had been given a leukemia shot because the mass was on Peety's left side. The surgeon who did the removal of the margins said he was not sure if it came from a shot. I hope not. All I read about sarcoma from shots and how it keeps recurring. A strange thing happened before I had the mass removed, before we knew what it was. I would put the palm of my hand over it and the thought of tree roots would come into my head. When the first surgeon said before she operated that the worst case scenario would be if he had fibrosarcoma because it had fingers that reach down into all the areas surrounding. I froze, knowing that that was what he had. I've been told since the second surgery that the margines are all clean and there's a high probability that it is gone. Whew!! Now if I could get him to not lick the tiny part of the incision that is still not healed I could take this silly collar off of him!

spikedance

[rpcathouse]

Was the mass on the shoulder or the hind quarters. If the shoulder you can get a baby tee shirt and put on the cat that is what I had to do when Moses had the same surgery. And he loved his tee shirt. I have not given him the feleuk vaccine since then either. I don't give it to any of my cats, since they are all indoor only cats. But I do test my females once a year.


Stella

[spikedance]

His mass was on the hind quarters. I'm not really sure if it came from a shot or not. I was told by the oncologist that if I could find out that it was a leukemia shot and that it was Merial, made by Merck, she knew of a guy that received $1500 to help pay the surgery bill. What a bargain. The more I read about cancer from the shot, I am procrastinating looking to find if he had a leukemia shot because everything I read seems to be quite negative. Has your cat had any recurrence? As for the t-shirt, I actually put one on him the last time I took him for a check up. I just crocheted him the ugliest sweater type thing. It's more like a horse blanket idea but he purposely walks right out of it. Aaaaaagggghhhhh!!!!!
spikedance

[rpcathouse]

Moses had his surgery when he was when he was 2 1/2 yrs old. And we have had no recurrences at all. I can't even see the scar. After that I do not give the Fe-leuk vaccine. But since I breed I do test the females in the house for it. I do not recommend it to the kitten buyers either. I had to have the one in 2000 cats that had a reaction to it. The vaccine was made by Fort Dogde and they all do about the same thing in making the vaccines. Moses will be 6 yrs old on August 1st. Good luck and keep us posted on how he is doing.

Stella