September of 2025, Elizabeth had her annual physical. The doctor discovered a huge lump in her chest, near the nipple. This typically indicates breast cancer for cats. Yes, they can get breast cancer. So, we got an appointment to see Jimmy’s oncologist (for his lung cancer which I previously posted about) and surgery and a CT were arranged for the same day.
She had surgery in late September. She recovered quickly since it was not as deep as Jimmy’s. She was not on fentanyl patch like he was so she was not as bonkers. She was confined for two weeks, not the four he was. She wore the same sweaters and onesies that he did and was not bothered by them. She did not sleep in the litter box like he did. I spent the day and night with her in the small guest room. After two weeks she could roam the hall and be in the larger bedroom. We used the same baby gate at the top of the stairs, and the same pet stairs in the larger room for her as we had with Jimmy. After three weeks, her regular vet looked her over and said the incision had healed well enough that she couldn’t rip it out if she licked it so the sweaters could come off. (And she didn’t lick it afterwards.)
She did not feel well a few days after surgery. She was lethargic and not eating and developed diarrhea eventually. I took her to the regular vet who gave her fluids and rechecked blood work. It just took time to recover but she seemed better after receiving fluids.
The lump was not in the nipple-a good sign for not being cancer; it wasn’t in the chest wall or muscle-another good sign. It was a large non-cancerous cyst. She had a deep long incision-not as deep as Jimmy’s lung surgery incision-but low along the belly, under the right arm.
Unfortunately, the CT did show a lump in Lizzie’s lung, possibly lung cancer. But she had an updated xray this February 2026 and the lump is still very tiny. Too small to remove but since it is not growing, they doubt it is cancer. Further xrays in the next few months, and a recheck with oncology in August (with possible CT follow-up) will be needed to keep an eye on it.
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9/23/25 Elizabeth has a CT and surgery today to remove a lump from her chest. We'll know more later.
9/24/25 Elizabeth is home. Don't be alarmed by the surgical site. It's lower than Jimmy's lung surgery surprisingly. I guess I hadn't realized how low it would be. She refuses to wear a collar but we do have the sweaters and the newborn onesies that Jimmy wore so hopefully she keeps those on and doesn't bother the surgical site. She's restricted for a week in the room. And then she can have partial mobility to the upstairs. And then after two weeks she can go up and down the stairs if she is good and the surgical site is good. Then after three weeks she can go up and down the stairs throughout the house into the basement and climb the cat tree. So slow steps just like with Jimmy. She's not on a fentanyl patch so she is not acting loopy and weird like Jimmy did.
9/26/25 Lizzie – wasn't feeling that great on Thursday and wasn't eating. We gave her ondansetron the anti-nausea medication. That didn't make her eat. We gave her mirtazapine an eighth. (It is a good appetite stimulant but the cat must be feeling well/healthy enough for it to work.) That did not make her eat. We hand fed her 25 mL of food every couple of hours. And 6 mL of water. That helped spur her to feel better. And maybe it also helped the medication to eventually kick in. She finally started eating on her own late in the evening. But we had spent the entire afternoon and evening hand feeding her to keep up with her nutrients and her energy. Because her body needs more energy post surgery than you might imagine and we can't have it eating up her physical reserves.
She goes back this afternoon to the vet for a blood recheck and more fluids. She was getting fluids twice a week for her kidney disease but had been on fluids Tuesday and Wednesday at the hospital. And they thought she wouldn't need more fluids until Monday her regular visit. But maybe she needs them sooner.
9/28/25 How to stop diarrhea-information in the story:
Lizzie is doing well. Her blood test came back. We took her in on Friday. She's stable. She still has CKD3 so we need to continue to monitor. But she's stable. Her red blood cells are good and strong. Potassium is strong her electrolytes in general are good and strong.
She was not eating yesterday however and she has diarrhea. Perhaps from anesthesia. We hand fed her after she wasn't eating for a few hours. We can't let her go without eating for a long time because she's in recovery from surgery and her body needs the energy. And you should never let a cat go more than four or five hours without eating. Unless they've eaten a huge breakfast of course. But if your cat woke up and nibbled and then didn't want to eat something for a few hours there could be something wrong.
So we hand fed Elizabeth and then we also gave her water by mouth. I gave her 25 mL of Hills KD because it's easy to syringe. And 6 mL of water. We did this every three hours. Because she had diarrhea and she wasn't feeling well I didn't want to force a lot of food on her at once.
To get rid of the diarrhea of course a probiotic works well and we use is Forta Flora by Purina but that's added to the food and she's got to want to eat the food. Instead I use my go to solutions which is sweet potato or pumpkin baby food or pumpkin purée. You have to make sure these are no salt no sugar no spices no flavoring.
Pumpkin purée in the vegetable aisle is not the same as pumpkin pie filling. You want to avoid pumpkin pie filling. No spices no flavorings no sugar no salt hopefully.
You could add a tiny bit of salt and I mean only 10 grains to what you give if your cat doesn't have HCM, or high blood pressure. Salt is a necessary electrolyte; it helps the body retain fluid, increasing blood pressure. Vomiting and diarrhea depletes fluid and therefore electrolytes like salt and makes you dehydrated. This makes you weak and nauseous. And severe dehydration creates vomiting and diarrhea, an endless cycle.
I syringed up the pumpkin and gave her 9 mL of pumpkin purée (or baby food pumpkin or baby food sweet potato.) I also did feed her by hand tiny pieces of banana. Banana you can mash it up and add it to the food if they're eating. If they're not eating you can try to give it to them by mouth if that's the only thing you had around at the time.
The best solution to solve diarrhea is to boil rice in a lot of extra water. It has to be enough rice so that you get the fiber from the rice. And it has to be enough water so that the rice doesn't soak up all of the water. Then you drain the rice out or you scoop the rice out while reserving the water. You let the water cool and then you syringe up and you give about 9 mL of this to the cat. I repeat every 2 to 4 hours depending on how upset is the gastric system. So I gave it to Lizzie this morning and I gave it to her this afternoon and she's doing much better and she's been eating on her own today also.
So we will continue to take it one day at a time. We did put up the baby gate at the top of the stairs and we let her out of the bedroom so she's got the hallway. She's not allowed to go up and downstairs or to climb so she can't have the other bedroom.
10/15/25 Lizzie considered fully healed shirt off she can now roam the house freely.
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| Lizzie slept on my desk if I was working. |
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| Lizzie in post surgery sweater. |
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