Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Endometrial cancer causing vulvar discharge in young cats under 1 year
By Payan-Carreira, R et al.·Published in Reproduction in domestic animals = Zuchthygiene·2013·University of Trá·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Feline endometrial adenocarcinoma in females <1 year old: a description of four cases.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Four young female cats, all under one year old, were diagnosed with a rare type of uterine cancer called endometrial adenocarcinoma after having surgery to remove their ovaries and uterus. The cats showed mild symptoms, but three of them had unusual vulvar discharge that could be bloody, brownish, or even colorless and mucous. This condition is typically seen in older cats, making these cases particularly unusual. The study emphasizes that even young cats can develop this serious condition, and it highlights the importance of recognizing subtle signs to ensure early diagnosis and treatment.
People also search for: cat uterine cancer symptoms · young cat vulvar discharge · feline endometrial adenocarcinoma treatment
Abstract
Uterine neoplasms of epithelial origin are rare in cats and most often are described in older females. Yet, in less than 2 years, four ovariohysterectomy specimens were submitted from different practices to the Laboratory of Histology and Anatomical Pathology, at UTAD (Vila Real, Portugal), that emitted a diagnosis of feline endometrial adenocarcinoma. Untypically, all the females were aged <1 year old at the surgery. Access to the clinical files was requested to document the clinical features of the four cases, including any complementary data available, to construct the present case reports. The clinical situation developed with discrete signs, but vulvar discharge was present in three cases, ranging from bloody to brownish or colourless, and from purulent to mucous. The females were in dioestrus, although the oestrus remained unperceived in most cases. In this study, the four clinical situations are described and discussed on the basis of available literature, highlighting the aspects that may impair an early diagnosis and that may favour the progression of the disease and also that age should not be an excluding criteria when analysing the differential diagnosis list.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23834511/