Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with kidney cancer showing unusual toe bone tumors
By Sapet, Julien et al.·Published in The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne·2026·Diagnostic Imaging Department (Sapet, France·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Suspected unusual digital metastases of a primary renal cell carcinoma in a cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
An 8-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat was brought to the vet because of a mass on his kidney. After some tests, the vet found that the cat had a type of kidney cancer called renal cell carcinoma, which had spread to his toes, causing swelling and painful lesions. The owners chose to have surgery to remove part of the kidney mass, and during the procedure, the vet discovered that the cancer had also affected the eyelid. Unfortunately, the digital lesions were confirmed to be cancerous as well, indicating that the cancer had spread from the kidney.
People also search for: cat kidney cancer symptoms · cat swollen toes · cat eyelid tumor treatment
Abstract
An 8-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat was presented for exploration of a renal mass. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed a thick, anechoic, and irregular band partially encapsulating the left kidney with a thick echoic capsule and numerous thick echoic striations. Cytologic examination revealed moderate serosanguineous and chronic inflammatory effusion without atypical cells or causative agents. Swelling around several digits of both forelimbs and a small eyelid nodule appeared several days later. Radiographs of both forelimbs revealed aggressive osteolytic lesions of the distal phalanges of several weight-bearing digits. Thoracic radiographs were unremarkable. Despite the aggressive digital lesions, the owners decided to pursue the laparoscopy on the same day. The content of the cyst-like mass around the left kidney was aspirated, and the thick and firm wall was fenestrated. The ventral aspect of the wall was resected as much as possible. Histopathologic analysis revealed an ill-defined renal cell carcinoma with marked necrosis and suspected vascular embolization, as well as a solid carcinoma with respect to the eyelid lesion. Cytologic analysis of the digital lesions revealed malignant carcinomatous infiltration, presumed to be metastatic due to the multiple locations of the lesions. Key clinical message: Multifocal digital metastases may have a primary neoplastic origin other than pulmonary in cats. In the presence of multiple and aggressive digital lesions in a cat with no lung mass, the search for a primary tumor other than pulmonary must be carried out.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41586135/