Cat Cancer

The improvements in the prevention and treatment of infections, parasites, andnutritional diseases have lengthened the life span of our pets. Consequently, a catliving into its middle and later years will develop other health problems. Probablythe most dreaded disease of mid- and later life is cancer (although there are somecancers, such as lymphosarcoma [leukemia] that affect primarily younger cats).Yearly. there are almost 160 new cases of cancer per 100,000 cats.

Cancer begins as a biologically abnormal change in a single cell in one ofyour pet's organs. This cell divides repeatedly, producing more abnormal cells.These new cells also divide at an extremely rapid rate and cannot be stopped byyour cat's normal internal monitoring system, which makes normal cells behave.These abnormal cells are biologically destructive: they form solid tumors and in-vade and destroy surrounding tissue. Malignant tumors produce chemical sub-stances that aid the cellular destruction and help stimulate a blood supply (toobtain oxygen and nutrition) for the tumors. Malignant cells frequently spreadthroughout the body by way of veins or lymph vessels and thus bring their destruc-tive ways to other organs in your cat's body. This process is called metastasis.