Please say a quick prayer for one of my grand cats...

[Traci]

It would be unusual for a lump that size to have enough weight to pull the lower lip.

Was this a subcutaneous lump (under the skin only)?

[Tina B and crew]

It's hard. The skin is really tight under the chin. The "hollow" behind the actusl chin is not hollow like it normally is...the lump isn't on the actual chin. Sorry if my descriptions aren't clear. Probably in between the size of a pea and màrble. But the lip is definitely pulled down, I assume from the tightening. It felt hard, not moveable. That's just my description from what I could see/feel. When you look at her straight on the chin isn't enlarged, but you can see her lip being pulled.

[Traci]

I know what you mean now - again, was the lump subcutaneous? Did the vet remove the entire lump or only do a fine-needle-aspirate, do you know? Do you know if an xray was done of the esophagus?

[Tina B and crew]

I don't know if the lump was a "lump" or just swollen lymph nodes. The area the vet seemed most concerned about was the reddened area on the lower left gums. That is where she took the biopsy. What I can't tell yin about the "swollen area" or "lump" in the hollow under the chin was that it was hard and did not feel moveable. I asked my daughter what the vet said but she hasn't got back to me.

[Traci]

I'm guessing then, that she took an FNA rather than a surgical sample for biopsy.

The two areas may or may not be related, and wish I knew what "reddened area" of the gums meant to the vet.

[Tina B and crew]

To put it bluntly she said the area on the gum is what looked cancerous to her. I'm getting this second hand through my daughter, who works for the vet. But she was rather upset when she relayed it all to me. One of the things I thought of was eosinophilic granuloma. Does that affect the gums? Would something have showed in blood work? And would that cause the swelling if lymph nodes? My daughter said her left submandibular lymph is definitely enlarged.

[Tina B and crew]

What about stomatitis?

[Tina B and crew]

Additionally Lilly is eating fine and does not seem to be in pain (which really means nothing since cats hide it so well).

Oh...and no, she did a surgical sample for the biopsy.

[Traci]

The vet took a sample from the gums, or from the tissue between the gums and lip?

EGC would most likely show eosinophils on the CBC - otherwise, yes, one of the three types of EGC can cause swelling, postules, red areas around the face, neck - my Cere has it and most of the lesions appear just inside her lips and outside of her lips. The postules sort of resemble a large pimple, but the swelling can appear different, it's generally swelling of tissue with red areas (when inside the mouth - outside of the mouth resembles a pimple). These lesions however, can be soft or hard, but tissue inside the mouth is generally soft. It simply appears different in every cat, but an experienced vet can generally diagnose EGC by appearance, history, CBC and if it goes away in about a week or so or responds to prednisolone.

Stomatitis usually presents with most of the gum areas, top and bottom with slight swelling and redness all over. It appears generally as a thin line where teeth meet the gums but in severe cases, the redness can affect larger areas of the gum lines.

I'm surprised the vet didn't FNA the lump under the chin, and/or take an xray of the esophagus to determine if the lump extended far below the skin or actually attached to the throat internally. It's not always visible with xrays since tissue can appear opaque, dark, white, etc. but it might have shown how deep the lump was.

[Traci]

The submandibular lymph node, if in close relation to the area of the swelling in the mouth, could be swollen due to an infection - i.e., if the lower left gum is infected, the left submandibular lymph node could become swollen. Is the lump under the chin/hollow in the center or to a side?